Lieutenant Eric Dickson of the HPD was quick to point out that this grant is one of only 49 awarded in California to local law-enforcement agencies through ABC’s Alcoholic Police and Partnership (APP) program. “ The police department here in Hemet is very proactive in seeking grants to help combat crime,“ said Dickson adding, “While we very much appreciate the grants from, and our partnership with, the state of California’s Office of Traffic Safety, this ABC grant, which runs from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, will aid us greatly in curtailing alcohol and driving-related problems.”

The ABC grant took time to vet and intensive investigation in its preparation. “The HPD’s “Restoring Our Community Strategy” team or ROCS, utilized the talents of Detective Craig Willison who investigated the information used in the grant and he also drafted the proposal. The entire process was overseen by ROCS Sergeant Michael Arellano,” said Dickson.

The city of Hemet has gotten OTS grants for a number of years, but this is only the second ABC grant the city has received. Dickson notes that while OTS Grants are more geared to Driving Under the Influence (DUI) offenses, this ABC grant is more geared toward illegal purchases and toward liquor stores themselves and is a large part of the HPD‘s efforts to build a partnership with the ABC. “This grant is an important tool in keeping our streets safe,” said Dickson.

The program has been very successful in other areas of the state.
“The program improves the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” said ABC Director Jake Appelsmith,” adding, “We’ve seen a real difference in the communities where grant program resources have been invested.”

The APP Program was created in 1995 to strengthen partnerships between ABC and local law enforcement agencies. The program is designed to put bad operators out of business, keep alcohol away from minors, and bring penalties such as fines, suspensions or liquor license revocations against businesses that violate the law. The funds will be used to reduce the number of alcoholic beverage sales to minors, obviously intoxicated patrons, illegal solicitations of alcohol, and other criminal activity such as the sale and possession of illicit drugs.

Lieutenant Dickson points out that, “…This grant will allow us to do more undercover work such as scheduling, “Shoulder taps,“ and “Minor Decoys.” A “Shoulder tap” is a police operation utilizing a minor to request an of-age alcoholic beverage store customer to purchase liquor for them. This targets the beverage customer. This is opposed to what is known as a “Minor Decoy,” whereby an under-age decoy will enter an alcoholic beverage store attempting to purchase liquor themselves.

While both are misdemeanors, Dickson points out that the second type of operation is aimed at the facility. “This type of offense really hurts the pocketbook of the unlawful alcoholic business owner because it threatens their very license to legally operate a liquor business: the license is the very life’s-blood of their beverage operation. There aren’t many alcoholic business owners who are reckless enough to endanger their licensure,” said Dickson.

The post Fighting against alcohol-related crime appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

On Saturday, April 6, at 10:00 a.m., members of the Hemet Sheriff’s Station and agents of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (see: https://www.abc.ca.gov) conducted a minor decoy operation. This involves the use of minors under the age of 21 years with direct supervision of deputies and ABC Agents. During the operation, the minors attempted to purchase alcohol from eleven retail licensees in the unincorporated area of Riverside County known as Valle Vista.

All of the eleven business were found to be in compliance.

Multiple stations from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department received an ABC Alcohol Policing Partnership grant (see: https://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/grant.html). Funds from this grant are used to help fight alcohol related crimes and to educate ABC licensed businesses. The goal of the ABC APP program is to partner with local law enforcement agencies to help make communities safer.

ABC in conjunction with the Riverside Sheriff’s Department is conducting the compliance checks statewide to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. Minor decoy operations are a tool of law enforcement that are used to ensure that licensees are complying with the law. Operations will continue within the jurisdiction of the Jurupa Valley station.

Anyone with information relevant to this operation is encouraged to call Deputy Soto at the Hemet Sheriff’s Station, (951) 791-3400.

Valle Vista liquor stores

Visit HSJC for the cutting edge news!

The post Valle Vista liquor stores pass major ABC test appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.