(KWNO)- The Winona County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), Winona Police Department and the Winona County Sheriff’s Office, conducted compliance checks at Winona bars through last week and will be continuing to do so throughout the following months.
The intent behind compliance checks at bars is for educational purposes. Winona County ASAP said in a letter to business they will be checking,
“Compliance checks are an important part of reducing underage access to alcohol. When we reduce the availability of alcohol, we also help reduce the problems and costs associated with underage drinking such as car crashes, vandalism and sexual assault.”
During the checks, an underage person comes into the bars and attempts to purchase alcohol. The bars are then graded on asking for identification and not allowing the underage person an alcoholic beverage. This time around, there were no citations given to the bars that failed, as the WPD and company wanted to use these first checks as more educational than anything. A way to get bars to understand they must follow protocols and the importance of not supplying alcohol to those that are underage.
WPD says, “Our hope in working with Winona County ASAP and the Winona County Sheriff’s Office, is to educate and get it out there that were checking and we are striving for compliance because it does make our community safer.”
There were 17 bars checked during the first wave. Of those 17, six failed. As stated above, they were not given any citations as this first wave was more so for educational purposes than anything.
The six bars that failed the checks were Mulligans Pub, Red Mans Club, Broke World Records, Fast Eddies, Sloppy Joes, and Poots.
The Winona Police Department assured that there will be plenty of more checks to come.
