Procedures used in undercover operations are being reviewed after embarrassing incident.
The Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission (TABC) has announced that it was stopping its undercover operations following an incident involving a minor and a TABC agent. The un-named agent was arrested after allegedly touching a teenage girl inappropriately. The underage girl had assisted in a sting operation to catch retailers selling alcohol to minors. All undercover operations have been suspended pending a review of the commission's policies and procedures.
This is the second time in three years that the TABC has been embarrassed by an undercover sting operation. In 2005, the commission used undercover agents to target 'problem' bars that had been identified as the most common places where drunk drivers arrested for Texas DWI had received their last drink. Under the
'Sales to Intoxicated Persons' (SIPS) program, agents were on the lookout for bartenders and waitresses over-serving alcohol to intoxicated patrons. The effort quickly morphed into a focus on the drinkers rather than the establishment and the servers. Under the guise of stopping intoxicated patrons before they could get to their vehicles and drive while drunk, agents were making arrests for public intoxication in the bar. The program was obviously unpopular with bar owners and patrons alike.
Then in April of 2006, a woman was arrested in an Irving, Texas hotel bar. She, however, was a guest at the hotel and had not planned on driving anywhere that evening. Immediately afterwards, TABC officials were called to legislative sessions and grilled over their policies. Paul Dunham, principal of an Austin Texas DWI defense firm, says "drunk driving should never be condoned, but I have a concern over the reach of the TABC program. It is one thing to make an effort to reduce incidents of driving while intoxicated in Texas, but it is another to initiate an arrest without proper analysis of the scene or situation."
The SIPS program and now the undercover retail sting efforts have been suspended by the TABC.
