By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

 Last weekend Sarah Williams and Stacy Burton, both juniors at Saint Joseph College of Maine in Standish, went bar hopping in South Portland. Neither of the girls brought their ID’s along for the ride. 

They brought the cops.

The girls were selected by officer Linda Barker – their criminology professor at Saint Joseph – to go undercover as part of the first “on-premise alcohol sales to minors” operation the city has conducted in years. Barker said the operation was partially funded through a $2,400 grant awarded to the department in July by the Community Promoting Health organization, a subsidiary of the People’s Regional Opportunity Program.

“We usually do the retail distributors about twice a year,” Selective Enforcement officer Jeff Caldwell said. “We’ll probably do the same for bars and restaurants from now on.”

Caldwell said it is more difficult to conduct an operation for bars and restaurants since it requires more people. For safety reasons, one officer – either Barker, Caldwell or Youth Aid officer Robert Scarpelli – was required to enter the bar or restaurant before Burton and Williams to keep an eye on the pair as they ordered drinks, Caldwell said. The two remaining officers stayed in the van, listening in on the conversation between the girls and their server courtesy of a microphone worn by Williams. If Williams received a beer, an officer from the van would join the officer already inside to serve a notice of a liquor license violation to the server’s manager. Even if Williams left empty-handed, officers were still required to notify both the server and their manager that they had passed the test.

“Sometimes with an on-premise operation you can use one buyer and two cars,” Caldwell said. “This is kind of cumbersome in comparison.”

Other complications include restaurants with buffet-style setting, Caldwell said. 

“We can’t have the girls pouring their own beers and then going up to the cashier. That’s illegal,” Barker said. “We try to keep everything simple.”

Keeping it simple meant Burton said Williams always asked for the same drink and left immediately after the server made the decision to ask for identification or bring them beers. When asked if they had identification, both girls were instructed to simply say, “No,” Barker said. 

“We try to keep everything standard,” she said. “We use people who look young, we’re not trying to trick people. It’s not about deception.”

When using men as undercover buyers, Barker said they do not allow facial hair and both Williams and Burton had been instructed to not wear makeup or revealing clothing during the operation. 

“If I was all dolled-up I could have totally gotten a beer,” Williams laughed.

All in all, the girls’ night out resulted in three violations – Super Great Wall, Mexico Lindo and Wild Willy’s – out of 30 establishments the team visited on a busy Saturday night, a result Barker and Caldwell considered a pleasant surprise.

“When we do retail checks sometimes we’ll get none and other times it can be as high as 15 [violations],” Caldwell said. “I figured we’re have more violations tonight, but it seems most of these places have policies in place.”

Matt Smith, a server at the International House of Pancakes near the Maine Mall, actually suggested the two girls try a mimosa before asking for their ID. What looked like a possible violation remained legitimate once Smith asked the girls for their identification, a practice he said has become standard.

“I thought it was odd they just suddenly got up and left,” he said.

Other bartenders went as far to open beers for the girls before asking for their identification, a situation Barker said came close, but was not in violation of the law. 

“The girls were surprised when we told them we don’t want them to get the beers,” she said. “I hold my breath every time, thinking ‘Don’t sell.’”

It probably won’t be the last time Williams and Burton find themselves collaborating with local law enforcement, both criminal justice majors said they plan on joining the force after graduation. They said they saw the operation as an opportunity to see what they could expect from their future careers.

“It was intimidating at first,” Williams said of the operation. “It’s fun. I would do it again.”