Ventura County Sheriff's Department

Location: City of Ojai and the unincorporated areas in the Ojai Valley
Date & Time: December 30, 2009 / 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Unit Responsible: Ojai Patrol

On Saturday, December 30, 2009, Sheriff’s deputies and investigators from Alcohol Beverage Control, conducted an underage buy operation in the City of Ojai and the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley. Deputies employed an underage decoy, in an undercover capacity, to attempt to purchase alcoholic beverages from businesses.

Deputies targeted various locations and were pleased to find that none of the businesses sold alcoholic beverages to the underage operative. The operation was a joint effort with county and state offices to monitor businesses and their compliance with state laws.

Captain Dunn, the chief of police for the City of Ojai, deemed the operation to be successful with the businesses employing proper practices for checking identification and refusing to sell alcohol to underage customers. Last year during the decoy operation, seven area businesses were cited for selling alcohol to the underage operative.

Additional operations are expected to be completed to ensure compliance in an effort to reduce underage drinking violations.