Dedicated to Improving the Standards & Practices of Liquor Law Enforcement
The 2021-22 NLLEA Executive Board (left to right): John Yeomans, Immediate Past President (DE), Todd Merlina, President (PA), Tom Kirby, Vice President (VA), Israel Morrow, Secretary/Treasurer (NC), Jim Diana, Sgt.-at-Arms (DE)
ALE Awarded Agency of the Year by National Association
It’s always nice to be recognized for your hard work. Just ask the special agents at ALE who were pleased recently when their division was awarded the Agency of the Year Award by the National Liquor Law Enforcement Association. The award was presented to ALE Director Bryan House at their annual conference held in Montgomery, Alabama. 
Over 30 local, state, federal and campus law enforcement agencies were represented at the conference. ALE was one of the few agencies recognized for their hard work and dedication to the field of alcohol law enforcement. 
ALE Director Bryan House and Assistant Director Israel Morrow pose with the award.
The NLLEA Alcohol Law Enforcement Agency of the Year Award is given to an agency that has demonstrated agency effectiveness through the implementation of innovative programs, community and media recognition, as well as model training programs, practices and strategies. 
ALE demonstrated this through proactive enforcement. Among those efforts: targeting illegal alcohol outlets; performing licensee inspections; maintaining training for licensees through web-based platforms; sharing training with colleagues on alcohol home delivery compliance; securing partnerships for the investigation of fraudulent identifications; and the use of two specialized units to target nuisance locations and illegal gambling. 
“Our personnel rose to meet the challenges of the past year by innovating and holding themselves to the highest standards of our profession. I have personally witnessed and heard countless stories of our employees going above and beyond their duties in service of others,” said Director House. “I am extremely proud of their accomplishments as well as having our State recognized for this important award.”
(pictured left to right: Israel Morrow, Assistant Director and Bryan House, Director)
Sarah Jones, GIS Specialist Senior, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency was selected for this year’s Alcohol Law Enforcement Agent of the Year award. The NLLEA Alcohol Law Enforcement Agent of the Year award is given to an agent for acts of heroism or bravery, creativity resulting in innovative programs, recognition by peers and/or the local community, or other actions that enhance the image of an agency or alcohol law enforcement in general. GIS Specialist Jones developed a revolutionary tool to track, monitor and maintain data collected during alcohol and tobacco compliance operations. This new tool provides agents in the field a user‐friendly experience from a mobile device to digitally capture compliance checks at the 10,300 licensed locations statewide. This digital workflow drastically reduced redundant paperwork and increased the efficiency of operations. The hard work, dedication and innovative thinking used by GIS Specialist Jones to create this new platform of data tracking for ALEA makes her the ideal recipient of the NLLEA Alcohol Law Enforcement Agent of the Year award.
Idaho State Police Alcohol Beverage Control was selected for this year’s Innovative Alcohol Law Enforcement Program of the Year award. The NLLEA Innovative Alcohol Law Enforcement Program of the Year award is given to an agency that demonstrates program effectiveness through exemplary practices and enforcement. The forward and innovative assessment to implement the use of body worn cameras, paperless inspections through the use of iPads and the use of drone surveillance for alcohol law enforcement that was instrumental in winning a court case involving a liquor license revocation makes the Idaho State Police Alcohol Beverage Control the ideal recipient of the NLLEA Innovative Alcohol Law Enforcement Program of the Year Award.  Their multi-pronged enforcement approach has proven effective in several high-profile cases of illegal sales and importation of beverage alcohol and illegal gambling.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving-MADD Tennessee State Office was selected for this year’s John W. Britt Community Service award. The NLLEA John W. Britt Community Service award is given to a non-law enforcement agency/entity that makes a significant contribution to the efforts of liquor and/or tobacco enforcement and demonstrates program effectiveness through underlying efforts and practices. The mission of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is to eliminate drunk driving, fight drugged driving, prevent underage drinking, and support the victims of these crimes. The MADD Tennessee State Office has partnered with the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) on the compliance of curbside, to-go and delivery of alcoholic beverages at restaurants. This was an area of great concern for MADD as they saw the potential danger of alcohol being more readily available to underage patrons. They were grateful that the TABC shared their concerns and had already begun efforts to monitor the situation. TABC conducted minor compliance checks at 350 curbside/to-go/delivery establishments in 2020 and confirmed that closer monitoring would be necessary as compliance rates were less than 50%. MADD TN began sharing these results through social media which eventually lead to the establishment of responsible alcohol beverage training requirements for staff of restaurants providing these new services of alcohol delivery to avoid sales to minors. The type of partnership and support that MADD TN has provided for the TN ABC makes their organization a well deserving recipient of the 2021 John W. Britt award. 
(pictured: Phaedra Marriott-Olsen, TN MADD & Bond Tubbs, Chief Law Enforcement Officer
TN Alcoholic Beverage Commission
2021-22 NLLEA Board Members:
Todd Merlina, President - PA - [email protected]
Thomas Kirby, Vice President - VA - [email protected]
Israel Morrow, Secretary/Treasurer - NC - [email protected]
Jim Diana, Sergeant at Arms - DE [email protected]
John Yeomans, President - DE - [email protected]
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