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show that any members of Outback management or ownership were negligent or <br />reckless. The Police need only show that an einployee of the licensee in fact served <br />alcohol to an underage person. If that is shown, a violation has occurred. <br />Therefore, the Outback's position in this case that there was nothing the manger could <br />have done differently to prevent a violation is no defense to a penalty, even if ir��e. I�� fact <br />an employee of the Outback served alcohol to a minor. That is a violation for which the <br />Outback, the license holder, is legally responsible. <br />This situation is not unique. If an employee of the Outback accidentally drops a tray and <br />injures a customer, the Outback is responsible for the act of its employee — even if the act <br />was an accident, anc� even if the Outback management and ownership could not feasibly <br />have done anything to prevent the accident. <br />Of course, without second-guessing the Outback's manager in this case, there are <br />additional things the Outback could be doing regarding service of alcol�olic beverages. <br />The Outback could adopt a policy of carding every person who requests an alcoholic <br />beverage, regardless of their appearance. Some other liquor licensees do this, as reflected <br />by signs within the establishment notifying customers that all persons requesting <br />alcoholic beverages will be asked to show identification of their age. Or, a variation of <br />this approach, the Outback could require their servers to card every liquor customer who <br />appears younger than 40, as some other liquor licensees also do. To be sure, such a <br />policy is more bother for the licensee and its customers. Licensees, I suppose, have to <br />balance that consequence with th� consequence of not more aggressively checicing the <br />age of customers seeking alcoholic beverages and thereby risking serving underage <br />persons. <br />It is not my role to require or even suggest these or other changes to the Outback's policy <br />regarding service of alcoholic beverages. That is a decision for the Outback to inal�e� But <br />I use these as examples of things that could be done to enhance the Outback's policies <br />and lessen the risk that alcohol will be served to minors. <br />The second reason I would not reduce the penalty even if it were not a mandatory <br />minimum penalty, relates to the Outback's written alcohol service policy. Although the <br />Outback has submitted for the Chiefs consideration a liquor training policy, that <br />submitted policy appears, upon my review, to be questionable in terms of compliance <br />with the Chiefs standards for approval. Of course, the Chief will have to decide whether <br />the training progran� now submitted by the Outback meets with the Chiefs approval. <br />Presumably, �lze Chief will mak� this decision consistent with his standards and decisions <br />in reviewing the alcolao� training programs of other licensees. <br />The Code clearly says that participation in this optional training program lessens the <br />penalty for violations only if the training program has been approved before a violation <br />occurs. Therefore, even if I wanted to give positive weight to the fact that a writtez� <br />training program has bECn submitted following t��e violation, the Liquor Code does not <br />allow me to do that. <br />