One Arrested in Alcohol Sting

Source: Santa Maria Police Department

On Friday, 11/17/2017, the Santa Maria Police Department conducted an ABC “Shoulder Tap” operation throughout the City of Santa Maria. The program is designed to reduce youth access to alcoholic beverages. These type of operations are conducted by local law enforcement throughout the state. 

During the “Shoulder Tap” operation, a minor decoy under the direct supervision of officers, attempts to get persons from the community to purchase alcoholic beverages from the ABC licensed establishments within our city. This operation was attempted at three different locations of “off-sale establishments” in the City of Santa Maria. Out of seven individuals contacted during the operation one suspects purchased an alcoholic beverage for the minor decoy. After purchasing alcohol for the minor decoy, the suspect was contacted and arrested on charges of purchasing an alcoholic beverage for a minor. During the investigation it was discovered that the suspect had a felony arrest warrant out of Los Angeles area. The suspect was booked on the felony warrant.

These type of programs are intended to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to minors; statistics show that teens have a greater rate of drunken driving crashes than adults.

Funding for these programs are provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety administration through an ABC Mini-Grant which was awarded to the Santa Maria Police Department for these types of operations.