"Undercover" must be the flavor-of-the-month for law enforcement. We've got agents lurking in the crosswalks, in massage parlors, there are doc cops in hospitals, and now they're in the grog shops.
If you're headed down to the Jersey beaches with the family, you might want to warn the teens about trying to flash fake ID's at the liquor stores by the shore. That salesperson behind the counter may be an undercover cop. From The Star Ledger:
Setting their sights on the Jersey Shore, state officials today kicked off their annual campaign to combat underage drinking, an effort, they said, that is starting to pay off....Participating liquors stores agree to allow undercover police officers pose as store employees or station them outside to apprehend underage drinkers or adults who try to purchase alcohol for underage drinkers.
Funded by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, the program has expanded to 28 communities in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties this summer, said Jerry Fischer, director of the state's division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.Under that program, police in 19 communities made 330 arrests in 2005. The following year, there were 180 arrests in 11 towns. Last year, police in 23 shore communities made 190 arrests, according to ABC statistics. Underage drinkers face penalties including arrest, a $500 minimum fine and six months' loss of a driver's license.
Well, it's a deterrent...I say, keep the kids on Kool-Aid.
It's a good thing they didn't have this program during my youth or I'd have a rap sheet as long as my arm.