REDDING – On August 23rd, 2024, California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) agents and Redding Police Department officers conducted a Minor Decoy operation, in which a decoy under the age of 21 attempted to purchase alcohol at 16 different businesses.  One clerk at a market on Parkview Avenue was the only clerk who failed to check the customer’s identification and refuse the sale. 

Store employees who sell alcohol to a minor face a minimum fine of $250, and/or 24 to 32 hours of community service for a first violation. In addition, ABC will take administrative action against the alcoholic beverage license of the business where alcohol was sold to a minor. That may include a fine, a suspension or the permanent revocation of the license.

ABC is conducts compliance checks statewide to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. Statistics have shown that young people under the age of 21 have a higher rate of drunken driving fatalities than the general adult population.

Minor Decoy operations have been conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state since the 1980’s. When the program first began, the violation rate of retail establishments selling to minors was as high as 40 to 50 percent. When conducted on a routine basis, the rate has dropped in some cities as low as 10 percent or even below. In 1994, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that use of underage decoys is a valid tool of law enforcement to ensure that licensees are complying with the law.

“We applaud those clerks who checked identification and refused the sale of alcohol to someone under 21,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.  “We also thank California ABC agents and their local law enforcement partners for working to protect the public from crashes and crimes associated with underage drinking.”