Warning: police officers may be posing as store employees.

Stopping minors from trying to buy alcohol has long been a problem for concerned retailers. Cops in Shops  is a unique partnership between retailers and law enforcement that helps stop illegal underage alcohol sales and prevent adults from buying alcohol for minors. The program is preceded by a public information campaign advising of the forthcoming effort to reduce underage purchase by placing undercover officers in participating retail locations looking for underage buyers. Warning signs are placed in the windows and cold case doors of the participating retailers.

Once the program is operational, teams of officers are placed in strategic participating retail outlets. They usually consist of one undercover officer who works inside the store while a second officer is positioned outside the establishment to apprehend adults that procure alcohol for youth. Cops in Shops places the focus on the perpetrators — minors who try to purchase alcohol illegally and adults who try to purchase alcohol illegally for minors

Cops in Shops is a community partnership between local retailers and law enforcement designed to deter minors from attempting to purchase alcohol and to discourage adults from purchasing alcohol for minors.  

Created by the Century Council, a national non-profit organization dedicated to combating underage drinking, the Cops in Shops program offers a unique approach to preventing the illegal purchase of alcohol by underage persons through a "partnership" of liquor retailers and the law enforcement community. The program also targets adults who purchase alcoholic beverages for underage individuals

The Cops in Shops program is funded by a federal grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) as administered through the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety - Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Every licensed liquor store in Brigantine that sells retail is participating in the program.