By Megan Alderman-Person
With its close proximity to multiple colleges and more than 250 bars and nightclubs, New Haven is teeming with young people going out for a drink on any given weekend night. While most bars and nightclubs try to regulate their customers, underage drinking still occurs. To combat this problem, the state liquor commission conducts unannounced inspections to make sure both businesses and their customers are complying with the law.
Inspections are a joint effort between the state liquor commission and the city’s police department, according to Dave Hartman, New Haven police spokesman. In past years, the task force team for inspections has also included the fire marshal’s office and health department.
Inspections are rarely completely random, said Hartman.
“If you have a bar and people believe that they’re serving large numbers of students underage, we have gotten complaints from the universities, from parents and from other businesses in the area … that certainly weighs in,” Hartman said.
The general manager of Bar, Frank Patrick, is no stranger to inspections. Bar operates a restaurant by day and bar and nightclub on Thursday through Saturday nights. Because every room in Bar has an actual bar in it, all customers must be at least 21 years old or be accompanied by a parent to enter. In the 13 years that the liquor license has been in his name, Patrick said he has never had a violation during an inspection.
“We have a reputation of being strict with IDs, so we are going to get raided less,” Patrick said. “The police department tends to know what places are trouble places, so they’ll go there more often.”
Inspections often do not happen immediately after a complaint is made. The turnaround time is based on the availability of control agents from the state liquor department, according to Hartman. The agents then contact the police department, which puts together a group of people to supplement its team. However, if it is an issue of public safety, Hartman said, the city will send officers in right away.
These inspections are usually a surprise to the establishments and do not generally follow any pattern. Sometimes, Bar will have inspections a couple of times a year, but other times it will not have an inspection for more than a year, according to Patrick.
“They want to surprise you because there are a lot of bars out there that turn a blind eye to underage drinking,” Patrick said.
During the inspections, no customers are allowed to leave or come in. Patrick said the inspections do not hurt his business, but some of the time, the customers will give the liquor commission’s officers a hard time.
If an underage person is caught drinking during one of the inspections, they will most likely be cited for an infraction for underage drinking, but the establishments face bigger repercussions.
“The immediate responsibility is on the person serving the alcohol to ensure that where the alcohol goes is to someone of appropriate age,” Hartman said.
Meghan Alderman-Person is a senior journalism major at Quinnipiac University. She is writing about food this spring. She can be reached at meghan.alderman-person@quinnipiac.edu.
Q Reporting 