County booze violations outside norm

A customer enjoys a beer while listening to music in a downtown Coeur d’Alene bar. (Loren Benoit/Coeur d’Alene Press photo)

Russell Wheatley, captain of Idaho State Police’s Alcohol Beverage Control division, adamantly believes he’s not in the business of deception.

When the department’s plain-clothed, underage decoys present identification to bouncers, bartenders, servers and clerks during state-wide operational stings, the IDs are their own.

Nor do detectives cunningly recruit teens who look years older.

“The whole point of these compliance operations isn’t trickery,” says Wheatley, whose unit hires people ages 17 to 20 for its stings. “If I could, I would use 14-year-olds.”

Bearded or boyish, decoys are experiencing more compliance than violation. According to records gathered by The Press, from 2011-2015, ABC contacted 1,448 Idaho alcohol-licensed premises, issuing 266 citations for a compliance rate of 82 percent.

Kootenai County isn’t boosting the state’s favorable compliance numbers, however/ Ryan Collingwood , Coeur d’Alene Press. More here.