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“In towns and cities... there is no more important institution than the local paper.”
Warren Buffett
HMG Crime Wire
Bell Gardens Police Department concludes the Fiscal Year 2013-2014 grant to combat alcohol-related crime; City will receive an additional $15,000 in Fiscal Year 2014-2015 to continue enforcement and education of alcohol-related crime.
The City is pleased to announce the conclusion of a very successful grant for the 2013-2014 Fiscal Year awarded by the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). ABC is a part of the Department of Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, which annually awards funding to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of reducing alcohol-related crime through education and enforcement related to the sales of alcohol, especially to minors. During the course of this one-year grant period, the police department provided public education, enforcement and licensee training, and enforcement of ABC laws of sales to minors. These educational efforts and proactive enforcement operations resulted in assisting numerous business owners in gaining compliance of ABC laws, as well as numerous citations and/or arrests.
As part of the Bell Gardens Police Department’s continuing effort to prevent alcohol sales to minors and reduce illegal activity at businesses involved in the sale of alcohol, Chief Robert E. Barnes announced that the Bell Gardens Police Department has again been awarded funding for the 2014-2015 Fiscal Year. This grant award in the amount of $15,000 will be utilized to fund police officer overtime pay on operations aimed at reducing the number of alcoholic beverage sales to minors and obviously intoxicated patrons, illegal solicitations of alcohol, and other criminal activity such as the sale and possession of illegal drugs.
The Bell Gardens Police Department with assistance from ABC investigators, will again be conducting several enforcement operations and community outreach programs for residents and businesses educating them on ABC laws and the importance of reducing minor access to alcohol.
This grant is one of many awarded in California to local law enforcement agencies through ABC’s Grant Assistance Program (GAP). The GAP Program was created in 1995 and is designed to put poor operators out of business, keep alcohol away from minors, and bring penalties such as fines, suspensions or revocations against businesses that violate the law. The GAP Program has distributed over $20 million to local law enforcement agencies to combat alcohol-related crimes.