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Twenty-nine students cited in A.L.E. sting
By David Irvine
Old Gold and Black Reporter

A.L.E officers crack down on alcohol possession and consumption by minors in a "Cops In Shops" operation targeted at youth offenders.

Students expecting to ease back into campus life got a rude awakening this week when 29 were hit with alcohol-related charges.

According to Chet Jessup, supervisor of Alcohol Law Enforcement District VII, which serves six counties including Forsyth, 36 people were charged with a total of 42 alcohol and drug violations between Aug. 21 and the early morning of Aug. 25 in Winston-Salem.

The majority of the citations were for possession of an alcoholic beverage by an underage person, but other charges included aiding and abetting an underage person in the possession of alcohol and purchasing alcohol by an underage person.

Twenty-nine of those cited were identified as university students.

The increase in arrests was due largely to the agency’s "Cops In Shops" operation, which is conducted on a periodic basis and places undercover A.L.E. agents and Winston-Salem police officers in convenience and grocery stores to spot any illegal actions involving alcohol.

"What we did last week and what we’re doing for the next couple weeks is the same thing we’ve done for the last four years," Jessup explained. "We work in the northern section of town and around the outlying areas of the university, looking for underage people trying to buy alcohol or trying to catch those individuals who are old enough and who are trying to buy alcohol for people underage."

Some of the students arrested last week, however, claim that they were not guilty of any violation at all. Junior Blake Lingruen was charged with aiding and abetting an underage person in the possession of alcohol Aug. 24.

Of legal age himself, Lingruen said he went into the Food Lion at 7760 North Point Boulevard last week to buy a six pack of beer. He went in and out of the store with his underage friend, a sophomore, for whom Lingruen said the alcohol was supposedly never intended.

After the two had driven away from the store they were stopped by agent A.C. Boles. "They pulled me over and said that because the friend walked into the store with me it was contributing to a minor, knowing that he never touched it," Lingruen said. The friend was charged with underage possession of alcohol.

Lingruen said that his lawyer, James Quander, plans to fight the charge in court on the grounds of entrapment. The Old Gold and Black was unable to reach Quander for comment.

Underage junior McBryde Grannis told a similar story. Grannis said that he was out with three friends, one of whom was 21 and stopped at Food Lion to buy alcohol. "The agent followed us out and pulled us over outside of the Polo exit," Grannis said. "He didn’t take that we were sober for an answer . . . and (the agent) gave her aiding and abetting and the three of us possession."

Jessup maintained that in order for an agent or officer to make an arrest he must have probable cause, which can be warranted by a number of different behaviors exhibited by the suspect.

"We saw underage people come in stores with of age people and pick up alcohol, place it in a buggy or say ‘I want’ beer or wine," he said. "All of these actions were done within the sight of an undercover A.L.E. agent or Winston-Salem police officer."

It is normally only after the suspect leaves the store and drives away that the agent stops the car, confirms his or her age and issues a citation.

Jessup went on to explain that if an agent witnesses "youthful looking people purchasing an age-limited product, (he or she) has reasonable suspicion to pull them over" once they have left the store. "Just because somebody bought beer is not enough to stop a car. Somebody youthful buying alcohol is reason for a traffic stop," he said.

According to Jessup, a university parking sticker on one’s car is also enough to warrant that reasonable suspicion, as approximately 3/4 of Wake Forest students are under 21. He stressed, however, that a number of youthful looking people were pulled over after leaving a store with alcohol, confirmed their age with valid identification, and were able to go on their way.

"We’re not targeting Wake Forest students, we’re targeting underage drinking," Jessup said. "It just so happened that this week we were working the North side (of Winston-Salem) and it was Wake Forest students."

"We love to have compliance," Jessup stressed, "but if you’re under 21 you understand the consequences."

University Police developed a close relationship with A.L.E. four years ago when the two began coordinating efforts to crack down on rowdy off-campus parties that were becoming nuisances to neighbors.

"We’ve always worked together, but a more deliberate communication plan was established," Chief Regina Lawson said.

Copies of the citations issued to students during the "Cops In Shops" operation will be forwarded to University Police, which, according to Lawson, acts as an intermediary between state and local law enforcement and the Dean’s Office.

Ricardo Hall, assistant dean of student services and judicial officer, will oversee the university’s disciplinary actions for the 29 accused students.

While he noted that the university alcohol policy is nearly identical to North Carolina law, the way in which his office finds a person responsible is often different than in a legal setting.

"With cases like that, we’ll have the A.L.E. agent in for the hearing as well as the student," Hall said. "I’m depending on the student’s honesty more than anything else, and I make a decision about what a reasonable person would think was going on."

Hall explained that he does not look for technicalities in a case, but rather for the intent of the accused student. "We’re probably a little more able to use common sense when making a decision."

He also noted that many of the violations in question may fall under the new community infractions rule, which prevent minor violations of a code of conduct from being put on the student’s record if he or she has no previous violations and receives no more in the future. "That shouldn’t be misconstrued as a free pass," Hall said, reminding that a second infraction brings the original back onto the student’s record.