Chief Michael Murphy reports that the North Reading Police Department will conduct random checks of premises licensed to sell alcohol.
Checks are being done to ensure that licensed premises are in compliance with local and state alcohol regulations, in an effort to restrict the availability of alcohol to minors.
In North Reading, every person who serves, bartends, or takes orders for alcohol must have a proper alcohol serving training prior to serving alcohol or taking orders.
“Enforcement actions are not related to any specific rise or spike in underage drinking in North Reading. Rather, the Department is being proactive in its approach to dealing with something that it recognizes is a problem in every city and town,” said Chief Murphy.
In addition to the police compliance checks, Drug-Free Communities Director Amy Luckiewicz is also authorized by the Select Board to check on the training offered to alcohol servers.
“Proper training is really important to prevention. Proper training programs for alcohol servers include information on how to properly check IDs, information on how to prevent overserving, and how to de-escalate customers who drank too much,” said Luckiewicz.
“This is not a one-time initiative,” said Chief Murphy. “The North Reading Police Department has trained officers in the procedures used to conduct lawful alcohol compliance checks of establishments licensed to serve alcohol, and these checks will continue as a routine part of the Department’s crime prevention efforts.”
“No single approach will entirely solve the problem of underage drinking. We employ seven strategies through our federal grant and work closely with our community partners to complete prevention projects that have real impact,” added Luckiewicz.