Prince George’s County police say the delivery of beer, wine and alcohol to county homes is a dangerous idea that could lead to more robberies despite the liquor board’s attempt to address safety concerns. Since 1995, Maryland law has required liquor stores to get authorization from local liquor boards to deliver booze. But that rule has not been enforced by the Prince George’s County Liquor Board. Six liquor stores in the county already make deliveries without the board’s permission, according to board Chairman Franklin Jackson.
A new regulation proposed by the liquor board is designed to correct that, Jackson said, but police and critics want the deliveries banned.
And Deputy Police Chief Kevin Davis said the delivery service, now publicized by the liquor board, could draw the interest of criminals wishing to lure unsuspecting victims to their front doors.
“The crime we’re obviously most concerned about is robbery. We already have people who are robbed and shot for $12 pizzas,” Davis said, adding that the stakes are higher with alcohol involved.
After hearing residents concerns with the rule at a June hearing, the liquor board added several changes to make the process of delivering alcohol safer.
The five-member liquor board may now suspend and revoke a store’s authorization to deliver, and also outlaw deliveries to bottle clubs – establishments that serve alcohol to customers on the premise that the liquor is owned and provided by the customer.
Changes also give more responsibility to employees delivering the liquor. Persons making the delivery are asked to assess a situation and decide if they should refuse to make a delivery.
The rule would place and undue and unsafe burden on the person making the delivery, said Deputy Police Chief Kevin Davis.
“You’re asking people who aren’t trained in law enforcement to do what’s really an impossible task,” Davis said. “To expect them to observe and make judgment calls about who to deliver to and not deliver to is ridiculous.”
Amendments aimed at protecting delivery employees require stores to immediately notify the liquor board after any act of violence that occurs during a delivery.
Those measures are only reactive, Davis said, and would fail to prevent the crime from happening in the first place.
Councilwoman Mary Lehman, D-Laurel, said the board should simply deny all requests for authorization to deliver.
“I can’t imagine any rational reason why you’d want to allow this,” she said.
