Clovis Police cracks down on stores selling alcohol to minors

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- A multi-front battle against crimes involving alcohol has Clovis Police cracking down on businesses and drivers - they conducted a DUI checkpoint Friday night.

Clovis Police picked areas where high incidents of DUI accidents occur so the checkpoint's location isn't too shocking. Instead, it was another undercover operation targeting local businesses that caught people by surprise.

Tuesday's transaction started off like any other at The Meat Market, a customer wanted alcohol and the cashier carded him but then the police walked in.

"I'm kind of hurt that it happened," owner Anna Tasier said. "But I can't be mad about it."

Tasier said her employee read the driver's license wrong and she wasn't the only one who broke the law. Clovis Police checked up on 29 businesses, four of them failed in this undercover operation.

"We got our hands slapped," she said. "Do we like it? No, but we will go on and do what we need to do."

Officers say underage drinking is difficult to eradicate. Compliance checks in the past almost always led to citations and the alcohol can lead to a host of other problems.

"Obviously, it can lead to drinking and driving, sexual assaults," Cpl. Max Garces with the Clovis Police Department said. "Selling to minor is a huge deal and a huge offense."

Tasier said she's taking the lesson seriously. Beside carding all customers, cashiers now have to type their birthdays into the system to eliminate any possible errors.

"You hear too many of some kids that has died from a drunk driver or they were drunk while driving," Tasier said.

Tasier said some people are disgruntled by the new rules but she would rather have them be upset than to take the chance.

"Once you've done it," she explained. "They're going to be watching you and so we are going to do the right thing."