La Crosse police present quarterly alcohol compliance memo; committee approves special-event licenses with conditions

The La Crosse Police Department presented a new quarterly memo on June 3 summarizing its alcohol compliance work, compliance-check results and outreach efforts to licensed establishments.

“Part of our department’s philosophy is community engagement,” Captain John Wagner told the Judiciary and Administration Committee as he reviewed the department memo. Wagner said the report covers three areas: community outreach and education, compliance checks and bar checks. He told the committee that the department had conducted 30 compliance checks so far in the current license year and recorded nine failures — about a 30% failure rate on those checks.

During compliance checks the department uses volunteers aged 18–20 with real IDs; when a service violation occurs officers complete paperwork and may issue a citation. Wagner said the department also works with the La Crosse County Health Department on outreach letters and follow-up.

Committee members asked about specific establishments the memo flagged. Wagner cited two businesses by name: Beer House, where officers reported incidents of middle-school aged youths found inside the bar, and Tequila’s Restaurant, which in prior years failed compliance checks but has since worked with police on staff training. Wagner described outreach efforts at those venues, including meetings with licensees and guidance on ID checking.

Clerk Ellison told the committee about the city’s special-event requirements for expanded alcohol service: “When an entity asks for their alcohol license to be expanded into the outdoor area for a special event, they are required to provide a rigid snow type fence surrounding that area. They are also required then to have, persons monitoring the entrances, for underage participants, making sure that they're not consuming alcohol. They are also required to have licensed beverage operators that are also there to monitor those activities.”

The committee approved several special-event license expansions, including for Bennett O’Reilly/South La Crosse (Householder Taverns LLC) and Newey’s Vogue, with council members and police agreeing to follow up directly with applicants that had prior compliance failures. Chief Kudron said the department would contact the licensee for Bennett O’Reilly to confirm event safeguards; he told the committee, “we want to make sure that they have the support in order to comply.”

Council discussion emphasized training and agent oversight. Council Member Weston noted the city’s policy that three violations may trigger a license-review process; Wagner explained that the transparency of the memo should make escalation decisions clearer for the committee and staff.

The Police Department said it plans to produce the memo quarterly to help the committee track trends and to coordinate enforcement, education and licensing decisions.