Drunken drivers in Laguna Beach aren’t the only ones getting a wake-up call at DUI stops. Police are now alerting bars and restaurants when people who drank at their venues are arrested.

And they’re reaching far beyond Laguna Beach.

The public unveiling of the program — in which bars and restaurants throughout Orange County and beyond are being notified – has brought renewed attention to the struggle to combat drunk driving in Laguna Beach, whose roughly  23,000 residents see an estimated 6 million visitors annually.

While the program initially created a stir, law enforcement officials acknowledge, it seems to have been accepted by businesses.

Laguna Beach Police Chief Jeff Calvert says the program isn’t aimed at attacking or punishing them, but will provide them information that could help cut down on inebriated patrons getting behind the wheel.

“This was meant to be a partnership with our business community to start a conversation in an effort to work together to reduce the number of DUI’s in or roadways,” Calvert said. “I told them, ‘This is not punitive.”

Laguna Beach, with its laid-back art and funky beach vibe, may not have the same rowdy reputation as some of its beachside neighbors to the north. And the city’s comparatively sedate downtown area is a far cry from the groups of largely college-age revelers who pack Downtown Fullerton.

But, per capita, Laguna Beach has routinely led the state in DUI arrests.

“Since I’ve been here, a large majority of the time Laguna Beach has made more DUI arrests per capita than any other organization in California,” Calvert said.

The lion’s share of those DUI arrests come not from patrons of Laguna Beach establishments, but from drivers traveling to or through the city after drinking at bars or restaurants in other nearby communities, the chief said.

Under the new program, information collected by officers making DUI arrests — including a driver’s blood alcohol content, the date, time and location of their arrest — is sent in a letter to the business where the drivers — whose names are not included — imbibed their last alcoholic drink.

The information contained in the letters was previously generally available, since it was already provided to the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control, tamping down on concerns that the letters would create additional liability for businesses.

“We already had that data set and we are using that to create the letters,” Calvert said. “We are just making them (the businesses) aware of what information ABC already knows.”

The Laguna Beach program was quietly rolled out in January 2024, the chief acknowledged, but wasn’t publicly unveiled until the police department announced it in late December. As of November, the department had already sent out at least 75 letters.

Laguna officials did not specify exactly which cities the businesses who received all those letters were located in.

Police are hoping that businesses use the notifications of DUI arrests to take a look at their own operations. If multiple arrests come from people who are at an establishment during the same shifts, businesses could, for example, look at providing more training to particular employees, the chief suggested.

“The letters are an opportunity to look at their team and their patterns,” he said.

Without that information, the chief said, business owners “don’t know what they don’t know.” And employees, particularly security staff, has to have the power to turn clearly inebriated people away, he added.

“They have to have a culture of saying ‘no’ ” the chief said.

That message has been embraced by at least some local businesses.

Michael Byrne, who owns The Saloon on Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, said his employees make it a point to be aware if a patron has had too much to drink.

“We cut them off immediately,” he said. “It’s against the law to serve someone that’s drunk.”

But, Byrne said, it also depends on the person and the amount of alcohol someone can tolerate.

“You can serve someone one drink and they’re fine,” he said. “Another guy could have six drinks and they’re fine.”

And, he added, it’s difficult to know where or if the person has been drinking elsewhere before.

As for the letters being sent to bars by the police department, Byrne is fine “with anything that removes drunk drivers off the streets and prevents DUI’s and injuries to others.”

He also prides himself on owning his bar for 21 years and never “having a nick from ABC.”

In that time, he said, the agency has sent in at least 30 underage decoys and not one has ever been served. He cited letters from ABC notifying him of the times they passed the inspection.

Cary Redfearn, who operates the Lumberyard on Forest Avenue in Laguna Beach, said he also supports the police department’s efforts to reduce the number of drunk drivers and the information it provides him.

For example, if there is an issue on, say, a Friday, then the information from the letter can help with looking at who works that day. Is there a pattern to when things are happening?

“I think ultimately it will be helpful,” he said. “It’s not like we’re being watched over. We’re part of the process.”

Heidi Miller, who owns a boutique across from Main Beach, knows firsthand the tragedy that drunken driving can lead to after a close friend died after being struck by an intoxicated driver.

“I think your perspective changes when it becomes personal,” she said.

Since word of the police department’s new policy has come out, Miller said she thinks the “awareness will make people think twice” before they overindulge and drive.

“Most of our traffic in Laguna Beach are people just passing through our town. Let the drunks find a different route……too many DUI crashes in Laguna Beach,” she said.

If successful, the Laguna Beach program could prove to be a new option for other local departments that have struggled over the years to contain the effects of drunk drivers in their communities.

The Laguna Beach chief said he looked to programs run by his colleagues for inspiration, including one that former Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy brought to Orange County in which officers conduct voluntary breath-alcohol tests on the patrons of drinking establishments.

Laguna Beach followed Huntington Beach’s lead in adopting the voluntary program — which is officially called “Know Your Limits” — and uses it to show patrons exactly how much they underestimate the effect of their drinking on their blood alcohol level, Calvert said.

Huntington Beach unveiled the “Know Your Limits” program in 2014, after a study found that they were ranked first in the state in one year for alcohol-involved accidents.

While bustling nightlife can be an important draw for cash-starved communities, popular bars and nightclubs can also be a headache for law enforcement. And local police officials over the years have come up with a variety of efforts to combat alcohol-related crimes.

Huntington Beach and Fullerton both have downtown-specific police units that focus on keeping an eye on crowds that regularly fill local bars and restaurants.

Other communities have focused on bar and nightclub operators.

Newport Beach more than a decade ago passed a law requiring that new business owners or those taking over an existing business apply to the police department if they wanted to serve alcohol or provide entertainment past 11 p.m. That gave police a say in setting the operating hours for alcohol-serving establishments and the power to crack down on them if things got out of control.

With all the options available to drunken bar or restaurant patrons, the Laguna Beach police chief said, there’s no excuse for someone to get behind the wheel.

“It perplexes me with all the technology and resources out there with rideshare that people don’t pay the $50 to $80 to get to and from a bar or restaurant,” the chief said.

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