The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is shifting focus to more undercover operations after success with previous missions in the Lubbock area.
“We rely on them for intelligence and we rely on them for information in their case reported,” TABC’s Major Mark Menn said. “We can usually build on them to determine what happened before that fight occurred. What happened before that drunk driving accident.”
Each undercover agent is responsible for a region of West Texas, usually two to three officers per county. Major Mark Menn said Lubbock stands out in their records for good compliance because of their undercover officers building relationships with their areas of responsibility.
“We just kind of blended in with the crowd, watched what happened,” TABC’s Lieutenant Brian Williams said about his experience as an undercover agent 15 years ago. “If we saw a violation, we let our team know. Watch as they come in, make sure they get the right person identified and then we would leave like anybody else.”
Lieutenant said more officers are brought in from other areas for major events around town. However, they are looking to hire more with the next graduating class in June.
“We’ve kind of shifted our focus now on more of the undercover type operations so we’re less intrusive,” Lieutenant Williams said. “The only time you’ll know I was there is if there’s a problem.”
