Shoulder Tap Operations

Summary

Underage youth often obtain alcohol from adults who illegally provide the alcohol. Shoulder tap operations are a law enforcement strategy designed to hold adult providers of alcohol to youth accountable for their illegal behavior. Should tap operations focus on the adult who is providing alcohol to an underage youth. Underage volunteers are recruited, selected and trained to serve as decoys. The underage decoy, supervised by an officer, approaches an adult going into an establishment to buy alcohol and asks the adult to purchase alcohol for them. If the adult makes the purchase for the decoy, the adult provider is detained by the officers and dealt with appropriately.

Shoulder tap operations can be implemented either as an active enforcement detail where arrests and/or summonses are issued or as an education opportunity. For instance, once the target has agreed to the purchase for the decoy, a coalition member or an officer could intervene and educate the target regarding the negative consequences associated with underage drinking and provide specific information regarding the state of underage drinking within the community. Alternatively, the decision could also be made to allow the transaction to proceed and then arrest the target for the illegal supply of alcohol to minors.

Core Components

Dosage/Frequency

• At least 50% of retailers within a specific target group (on-premises and/or off-premises) should be engaged through the program.
• Frequency will be dependent on the number of retailers in the target group. This frequency will need to be reviewed and approved by the Agency.

Required Key Steps

In collaboration with the coalition, discuss/complete the following:

• Identify the locations where underage youth are purchasing alcohol.
• Decide on the model to use.
• Check with law enforcement if use of underage decoys in this manner is permitted.
• Always include law enforcement to assist, even if model is being used as an educational opportunity.
• Create a plan to gain program support by meeting with the City or County Attorney and law enforcement before initiating this strategy.
• Meet with retailers of focus to explain the strategy and gain support to host the tap program at the retailer location.

Collaboration with Law Enforcement

• Meet with law enforcement to decide or establish the following:
  • Dosage and frequency expectations as well as grant expectations about completing checks on time.
• Often, law enforcement agencies do not understand grant expectations so it is important to make those clear from the start of the project and discuss to see if law enforcement can commit to those expectations.
• Discuss costs per program. Explain that these programs are grant funded and agree on a cost that can be sustainable within the project funding throughout the rest of the grant. Establish a detailed shoulder tap protocol with law enforcement input and approval, which includes the following:
  • Need to be well-designed to ensure that the procedures are fair and not subject to either political or legal attack.
  • Locations, time of day, time of year based on data.
  • Ensure public/youth safety.
  • Enforcement efforts adhere to state and local requirements.
  • Criteria for youth volunteers.

Identify, Recruit and Train Underage Volunteers

In collaboration with law enforcement, identify and recruit underage volunteers. These youth can be volunteers or paid. Ideally these youth should:

• Not yet 20 years old and appear to be under 21 years old.
  • Validate the perceived age of the buyers
• Be an equal number of male and female buyers.
  • It is recommended that male volunteers have no facial hair
  • Female volunteers should not look older through the use of heavy makeup
• Not be used in the community in which they live.
• Represent a racial and/or ethnic mix that reflects the community checked.
• Dress in a manner consistent with peers in their age group.

Work with law enforcement to train underage volunteers on how to ask adults to purchase alcohol according to a consistent protocol.

• Provide a script for the youth or adult to use to avoid entrapment.
• Decoys should not accept or ask for incentives to purchase.

Create and maintain documentation on each trained volunteer that includes:

• His or her personal history and photograph
• Copy of driver’s license
• Driving and criminal record checks
• Injury waivers
• Parental permission form (if under the age of 18)
• Agreement of understanding
• A list of compliance check performed

Capacity Building

Create a capacity building plan to continually engage strategy stakeholders. Some ideas include:

• Build retailer support for the implementation of the strategy in collaboration with law enforcement.
  • Retailers may be hesitant to participate due to the possible impact on patrons/business so discuss ways to address their concerns.
• Community support for law enforcement efforts is an important component to consider. If support is low, identify ways to increase support through the coalition.
• Deliver helpful materials to retailers related to not selling to those under 21 years of age.
• Regularly (at least quarterly) meet with law enforcement agencies to review progress, discuss challenges and remind about grant expectations.
• Invite law enforcement officers involved in the shoulder tap program to present on the strategy at community events or community meetings.
• Recruit a retailer to serve on the coalition or help be a champion for the strategy in the community.

Implementation Materials

Introduction to Shoulder Tap Operations
Overview of Shoulder Tap Operations
Reducing Third-Party Transactions of Alcohol

References

Jones-Webb, R., Toomey, T. L., Lenk, K. M., Nelson, T. F., & Erickson, D. J. (2015). Targeting adults who provide alcohol to underage youth: results from a national survey of local law enforcement agencies. Journal of community health, 40(3), 569–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-014-9973-0

Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. (1999). Regulatory strategies for reducing youth access to alcohol: Best practices. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Center for Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/regulatory-strategies-preventing-youth-access-alcohol-best

Spera, C., Barlas, F., Szoc, R. Z., Prabhakaran, J., & Cambridge, M. H. (2012). Examining the influence of the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program on alcohol-related outcomes in five communities surrounding Air Force bases. Addictive Behaviors, 37(4), 513–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.11.016