It’s a staple of East End police blotters every summer: compliance checks in which police send underage individuals, undercover, into local stores to try to buy alcohol without I.D.
Last week, Southold Town police conducted a sweep of 13 retail alcohol sellers across the North Fork, dispatching an underage civilian summer traffic control officer to see whether clerks would ask for identification before completing a sale.
Eleven clerks passed the test and two failed, police said. Yeimi Cano Ramires, 28, of Mattituck, and Hardeep Singh, 36, of Greenport, were each charged with unlawfully dealing with a child in the first degree — the misdemeanor charge for selling alcohol to minors — and issued appearance tickets.
The charges stemmed from sales at the 7-Eleven stores in Greenport (above) and Mattituck, both of which failed to request identification, according to police. Attempts to reach Ramires and Singh were unsuccessful, and a spokesperson for 7-Eleven’s corporate office did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
The 20-year-old operative, who asked that his name not be used so he could continue in the role, said this is his second summer doing undercover work for the Southold Police Department and his last — he turns 21 later this year.
“At first, it was scary,” he said. “I’d never walked into a store blatantly trying to buy alcohol, knowing that what I’m doing could get someone in trouble or cost them their job. It was kind of nerve-wracking. I kind of felt bad.”
He got over that.
“At the end of the day we’re only doing this to make sure that kids don’t have access to alcohol as easy as some of these stores will give it up,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that easy. That shouldn’t happen.”
The businesses that refused to sell him alcohol without I .D. include Vintage Mattituck Wine & Liquor, Circle M Beverage, NoFo Beer and Smoke, the Gulf Gas Station Mini-Mart in Mattituck, the 7-Eleven in Cutchogue, Cutchogue Valero, Peconic Discount Wines & Liquors in the Cutchogue King Kullen, the Southold Gulf mini-marts on Main and Middle roads, and the Southold BP in Peconic.
Comprehensive statistics on compliance operations are hard to find, but studies suggest they’re effective. A 2007 meta-analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, updated through 2023, found that compliance operations reduced sales of alcohol to minors by 42%. Some studies also documented “spillover” compliance in surrounding regions following news reports about the operations. A 2005 study found that one-time compliance checks had limited impact over time, but that frequent, publicized compliance checks significantly reduced sales to minors.
Southold Police Chief Steve Grattan, who once worked these same operations as a traffic control officer in the late 1990s, said that at the time it was a welcome step up from patrolling beach parking lots for permits and responding to fender benders.
“It was quite an experience as I recall,” he said. “You walk in, try to be confident, and throw a beer up on the counter.”
Last week’s operations unfolded with practiced precision. A plainclothes officer entered the store first, browsing casually. About a minute later, the young undercover followed, picked up a beer — a Voodoo Ranger IPA at one store, a 25-ounce Four Loko at another — and brought it to the register.
The plainclothes officer lined up behind him to directly observe the sale.
If a transaction occurred without an I.D. check, the undercover asked for a receipt, took the alcohol and left the store. At that point, a second plainclothes officer entered to assist. The observing officer identified himself to the clerk and stated: “You just sold alcohol to an underage person.”
“Once that’s done,” the undercover told the Sun, “the two of them take pictures of the store, of the person who sold [the alcohol], the liquor license, the beverage I bought and the receipt. They document everything.”
While summonses for selling alcohol to minors rarely result in jail time, they can lead to fines or community service.
The young traffic control officer — one of nearly a dozen summer hires, who heads back to college in the Northeast this fall — said that, these days, he generally avoids local stores where summonses have been issued based on his undercover work.
“If I do, I’m most likely going to be in uniform and it’s going to be a little bit awkward.
“There are no hard feelings,” he said. “But there’s a job to be done.”
He said he has returned to local stores which proved compliant, and so far no one’s noticed him.
He laughed for a moment before signing off with a reporter.
“I hope it stays that way.”
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