The State of Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) Alcohol & Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) enforces and maintains the integrity of the alcohol and gambling industries. As part of that ongoing enforcement, the Retail Alcohol Vendor Enforcement (RAVE) began as a pilot program specific to Anoka County in September 2008. RAVE has since been met with such an overwhelmingly positive response from both the law enforcement and licensed beverage communities that it has expanded to include Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Sherburne, Washington, and Wright counties.
The RAVE program focuses on better educating liquor licensees in an effort to stop the service of alcohol to obviously intoxicated persons and reduce the number of alcohol-related traffic crashes and DWI arrests. When violations of state liquor statutes are found, enforcement is primarily handled by using a civil administrative process instead of traditional criminal sanctions.
The RAVE program supports the DPS-sponsored NightCAP and Safe & Sober impaired driving enforcement campaigns by making in-person contact with licensed liquor establishments during the enforcement periods. AGED agents advise on the RAVE program and provide educational material which includes posters, coasters, cocktail napkins, and a pamphlet explaining Minnesota’s liquor laws.
AGED agents also use the opportunities to specifically answer any questions from liquor license employees, offer server training assistance, and review the Responsibility of the Licensee and Sales to Obviously Intoxicated Person statutes which state:
340A.501 Responsibility of Licensee. Every licensee is responsible for the conduct in the licensed establishment and; any sale of alcoholic beverages by any employee authorized to sell alcoholic beverages in the establishment is the act of the licensee for the purposes of all provisions of this chapter except section 340A.701, 340A.702 and 340A.703.
340A.502 Sales to Obviously Intoxicated Persons. No person may sell, give, furnish or in any way procure for another an alcoholic beverage for the use of an obviously intoxicated person.
Additionally, AGED agents attend NightCAP and Safe & Sober briefings at which they request law enforcement officers to notify AGED agents of any DWI arrest where the driver has had an alcohol concentration of 0.16 or more.
Any DWI arrest involving a property damage or personal injury accident; and/or any alcohol-related arrest or incident involving an underage person, where the arrested person has indicated to have last consumed alcohol at a specific establishment in the NightCAP and/or Safe & Sober area.
To prevent possibly impaired patrons from getting behind the wheel, get your Minnesota alcohol certification today.
