Local alcohol vendors are reminded to serve responsibly in light of a partnership between the Lake County Sheriff’s Office’s and the Montana Department of Public Health and Humans Services, which will use grant money to fund alcohol compliance checks.

Running through 2018, the program tests a retailer by sending a confidential informant under the age of 21 to buy alcohol, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. The informant will look their age, will present actual photo identification when requested and will not lie about their age if asked, the release states. A plain-clothes sheriff’s deputy will oversee the informant, and a uniformed deputy or police officer will be present nearby to provide assistance and issue citation pursuant to any violations encountered. Individual retailers have been notified of the program, however actual times and dates of the checks will remain confidential in order to maintain the objective of the inspections.