Tempe police found about 400 underage drinkers at Tempe Tavern in spring and fall dragnets.
Now, authorities say a deadly hit-and-run is what sent investigators back en force.
An April bust by police at Tempe Tavern yielded more than 170 underage drinking and fake ID arrests. In another bust in November, Tempe police found nearly 250 underage people inside the bar.
The catalyst for the second crackdown was a September vehicle accident that left one person dead.
Police say a teenage driver who fled the scene had spent hours inside Tempe Tavern that night. The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control is reportedly doing a separate review.
The agency did not immediately respond to questions about Tempe Tavern.
Tempe police Lt. Michael Hayes said bars should be proactive, and also ask younger-looking people questions, like — when did you graduate from high school?
"Although I had heard that these IDs were scanning, there is a lot of things that bouncers and managers and people that work at bars can do besides just accepting a scanned ID," Hayes said.
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One exception to the ordinance allows automatic license plate reader data gathered by another agency to be used by Tempe police working on multijurisdictional task forces, so long as they don’t request a system query. -
The Tempe Union High School District Governing Board is responding to concerns from the community over a voyeurism case at Corona del Sol. -
Tempe police announced nearly 100 additional charges against a former Corona Del Sol employee who was accused of downloading videos of girls changing in the dance room while the girl’s locker room was under renovation.
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Several window panels were broken at the Fisher Industries facility. The parent company, North Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel, is contracted by the federal government for border wall construction. Tempe Police say investigators believe multiple people arrived around 4 in the morning to damage the building. -
Tempe officials are scheduled to hold informational meetings Thursday to review a proposed ordinance that would ban automatic license plate readers.
