The Southington Police Department and the Southington Town-wide Effort to Promote Success, or STEPS, have a message for local liquor retailers this holiday season: if you sell to minors, you get caught.

Police charged five local sellers with sale of alcohol to a minor during a concentrated enforcement effort on Friday evening said Southington Police Sgt. Lowell DePalma. The effort was conducted as part of a partnership between the two organizations, he said.

“This time of year, we do a wide variety of compliance checks and investigations,” DePalma said. “The goal with this effort in to provide strong alcohol enforcement in order to prevent any tragedies during the holiday season.”

In all, officers working with underage buyers visited 14 locations across the community and found five violations. The violations represented a 35.7 percent “failure to comply” rate, which is higher than in previous efforts, DePalma said.

The department will conduct DUI patrols and checkpoints, as well as potentially conducting further unannounced compliance checks at sales locations throughout the community.

The effort was one of two operations held last Friday, as officers also conducted a tobacco compliance check during the day in conjunction with the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. The tobacco check showed a higher compliance rate in the community with just three businesses failing to meet requirements.

A total of 28 businesses were checked in all, DePalma said, with only 10.7 percent failing to comply.

The following stores failed the alcohol inspection:

• Discount Liquors, 373 Queen St.
• South Main Street Liquors, 857 S. Main St.
• Little Red Store, 252 Marion Ave.
• West Side Spirits, 718 West St.
• Liquor Outlet, 400 N. Main St.

The following establishments failed the tobacco inspection:

• Super 66, 975 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike
• Milldale Mobil, 1896 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike
• Valero, 802 West St.

“We could conduct further checks at any point,” DePalma said. “It could be one day later, or ten months down the road. The ultimate goal is to have every business comply, no matter what time of the year it is.”