GRAND FORKS — Four businesses failed a recent alcohol compliance check completed on April 1, according to a news release from the Grand Forks Police Department.
Out of the 20 businesses that were checked, the four that failed were Brick & Barley, Sledsters, The Bun and The Ground Round.
The compliance checks are conducted with the assistance of area youth who are under 21 to see whether businesses and bars are selling alcohol to minors.
The compliance checks are conducted by having the minor enter a business that serves alcohol under the supervision of a police officer. The underage youth will then attempt to purchase alcohol without concealing their age.
According to the GFPD news release, if a sale is refused, the business “passes” the check. If a sale is completed, it is observed by the officer, and appropriate enforcement action is taken.
All businesses were later advised they were involved in the compliance check and received their results of the check.
Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said when a business fails the check, the server who served the alcohol to the minor is cited under a Grand Forks city ordinance.
“The servers themselves are issued a citation because ultimately it’s their responsibility to ensure that the person that they’re serving has proof of age,” Zimmel said.
However, if a business has multiple failures, Zimmel said the city may look at the failures as more of a “reflection of the business” and action can be taken against the business’s liquor license.
“I don’t anticipate that being the case for any of these four especially since it’s been some time since we’ve had compliance checks,” Zimmel said. “But when we’re doing them regularly if we have a business for example fail two or three of these checks over the course of a year, the city may elect to act on their liquor license and have a suspension of some sort just to press upon the business the need to ensure compliance by their servers.”
This was the first alcohol compliance check completed since 2020 as the pandemic put a pause on the checks, which are usually conducted multiple times a year.
The GFPD said in the release that the department anticipates to resume the checks moving forward.