DUI Policy Hits Heavy-Handed Bartenders

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Nov. 28, 2007— -- The state of New Jersey has a question for motorists stopped on suspicion of drunken driving: Where did you have your last drink?

Police must send the answers to state investigators looking for bars and restaurants where libations flow too freely.

New Jersey is the latest jurisdiction to adopt the tactic. This year, Texas started a smaller program, and Boulder, Colo., used last-drink data to get bars to be more careful about whom they serve. At year's end, the Washington State Patrol will publish its annual list of top "last drink" locations.

Jerry Fischer, director of the New Jersey Alcoholic Beverage Control agency, says the "Last Drink Initiative" allows his 22 investigators to cover the state's 10,000 licensed establishments more efficiently by focusing on watering holes repeatedly named as a last port of call.

"We've created an electronic database that allows us to identify problem locations that we otherwise would not have seen," he says. "Now we can see the patterns."

New Jersey prohibits the sale of alcohol to anyone who appears intoxicated, and the ABC can revoke or suspend a license or levy a fine. Since the state program began in September, the agency has received the names of more than 1,000 businesses and compiled a Top 10 list of those mentioned most frequently.

New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram told police specifically to ask whether the driver was drinking at a commercial establishment and, if so, to get the place's name and address.

Fischer said ABC undercover investigators recently visited a nightclub that had been named by eight motorists arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. They found signs on tables advertising a two-for-one sale on kamikazes, drinks that typically contain an ounce of vodka and an ounce of triple sec liquor.

Such a promotion is illegal because "it's designed just to get people drunk," Fischer said. "Unless we got lucky, we would never have stumbled in there."

In another case, state regulators found one restaurant had been named as a last drinking destination in seven stops in four towns —