StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/105459
post pictures and brag on Facebook." The 18 regular undercover officers, many of whom "have long hair and earrings and beards," said Rogers, do virtually all the undercover drug investigations in the state of Alabama. Why the ABC officers? "Because with drug deals, there's generally alcohol involved in there somehow," said Rogers. "The majority of drug deals originate in licensed establishments; someone says, 'Meet me at the club.'" The ABC officers also conduct compliance checks, using under-age volunteers. "These Discussing the finer points of a product is Julius Pittman, an RNDC are kids who hear about us representative, and Hattie Harris, the store manager. through word-of-mouth or The tasks of the officers of the ABC range from whom our officers meet when they speak at high doing licensee inspections and speaking at schools to schools," said Rogers. "They are all volunteers and are doing undercover drug investigations and busting meth well under the legal age of 21." The boys do not wear labs (for which they have to wear hazmat suits). facial hair. The kids will present only their true IDs if Eighteen of the 127 sworn police officers at the asked. They wear small covert cameras and carry marked ABC are undercover officers. One even went undercov- money. "We focus on people who will sell to a true kid," er at a high school. "A principal had called, telling us said Rogers. "We are not trying to trick or confuse a that his school was overrun with drugs and alcohol," said clerk. We don't have to: there are enough people who Rogers. "We have an officer who, though he's in his late don't care, who will sell to a kid – and they are dealt with 20s, actually looks 16. He had a whole cover story, for severely." The clerk in such a case is arrested on a crimwhen the kids asked: that he went to a military school, to inal charge, which will, if they are found guilty, result in explain his short hair, that he lived now with his grand- a fine, and the licensee will be issued an administrative father because his momma couldn't handle him, and he ABC ticket. The fine for a first offense is $750. The physically attended school and went to parties." ABC officers do the same kind of compliance check, ABC enforcement officers also run Facebook pages, using volunteers who are 14 or 15, for tobacco sales. where they pose as teens. When it comes to teen parWhen it comes to working with licensees, the law ties, "kids will tell on themselves," said Rogers. "They enforcement division has a civilian staff of eight at the can be the dumbest things you've ever seen. They will ABC headquarters in Montgomery who handle the paper- O riginally, the Alabama ABC was retail operation should be looked at, effect. He estimated that the entire going to replace the point-of-sale with an eye toward efficiency. So, process, from now till the implemen- system it uses in its 172 state stores. last month, the decision was made to tation of the new systems and proce- "As time went on, and more and put out a request for proposal (RFP), dures, would take about two years. more came to light, we saw that we looking for a consulting company should do the back-office system as that would do an analysis of the facets of our operation," said well," said David Latham, director of ABC's entire retail operation. Latham Latham. "We want to do things, not information technology (IT). pointed out that other control states, because that's the way we've always including Vermont and Pennsylvania, done them, but because that's the have done the same thing, to great best way to do them." But then the ABC realized that, to really do the job right, its entire StateWays I www.stateways.com I January/February 2013 "We want to modernize all 17