Police to Use Decoys to Halt Underage Drinking
Teenage decoys will be used to snare bar and liquor store owners selling alcohol to minors in the Isla Vista college community.
The Sheriff’s Department’s Isla Vista Foot Patrol plans to start using the 19-year-olds this month, as part of an intensifying campaign to prevent underage drinking. It’s the first time decoys have been used in about a decade.
Rather than handing out citations, Lt. Tom McKinny said, the operation is aimed at reminding store owners, clerks and bartenders to be vigilant about checking customer identification.
Letters sent to business owners “shows we’re not out to get them, but to put them on notice,” McKinny said.
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