Liquor Stores Association of WA executive director Lindsay James spoke to Radio 6PR Drive with Paul Murray about the issue on Tuesday. Have you been to a liquor store that had a blanket ban on people under 18 entering? Comment or email us to let us know about your experience "There hasn't been a change in the law. What's occured - and I believe it started with Mandurah Forum Liquorland, then a Liquorland store in Belmont - is that police had raised a section 64 complaint against the outlets," Mr James said. "The police go to the Director of Liquor Licensing and lodge a show-cause notice and then the outlet is able to respond. Subsequently the Director of Liquor Licensing makes a decision. "In the cases that I'm aware of at Mandurah Forum and Belmont Forum, then it precludes any juvenile being on the premise, even if accompanied by a responsible adult.

"My understanding is that there has been some theft at Mandurah - in which part of that theft was undertaken by people who were underage." Both the Mandurah and Belmont decisions are being appealed by the stores under Section 25 of the Liquor Control Act. Calls to the Mandurah, Belmont and Bentley stores were directed to head offices in the eastern states. Both Liquorland and First Choice are owned by Wesfarmers. WA Police referred inquiries to the Department of Racing, Gaming and Liquor, which then referred specific queries regarding theft back to the police. Police subsequently provided a statement, to be attributed to Detective Superintendent Jim Migro from the Licensing Enforcement Division.

“WA Police wrote to the Director of Liquor Licensing under the provisions of section 64 of the Liquor Control Act 1988 asking him to consider placing conditions on the liquor licence for the venues due to theft of alcohol from the venues," Detective Superintendent Migro said.



"Police provided details of the amount of theft, impact on policing, community and suggested some conditions that the Director might consider appropriate to be placed on the licences.



"Under the provisions of Section 64 if the Director proposes to impose, vary or cancel a condition on a licence the Director by notice may require the licensee to show cause why the condition should not be imposed, varied or cancelled.



"On receipt of advice from the licensee the Director then makes a decision on whether to impose, vary or cancel a condition on the licence.



"It would be inappropriate for police to release information that was provided to the Director in this process.



"Conditions imposed are the decision of the Director and not police." A source associated with the WA liquor industry said theft was an ever-present problem for bottleshops, especially big chains - such as BWS, Dan Murphy's, First Choice and Liquorland - where staff policy prevented workers following suspected thieves out of stores. Josh Daley, manager of independent Mane Liquor in Belmont, said his store had dealt with theft issues by implementing its own security measures. “Theft was a problem, but we now lock all our spirits in glass cases and it’s a lot less of a problem now,” Mr Daley said. “Theft is just part of the industry, it’s something we have to deal with.”

Mr Daley said that if age-entry restrictions were placed on his outlet, a key source of trade would be hurt. “A significant number of our customers are FIFO workers,” he said. “When they are about to return, we get a lot of mums, with their kids in tow, coming in to pick up beer as a present before they pick up dad from the airport. “If we had to say they can’t come in because of the kids, that would be a real problem for us. “We certainly wouldn’t be happy with that restriction being put on us but like I said, we don’t really have an issue with theft anymore since we started locking up spirits.”

A worker at one bottle shop in Perth's south-east said it was a commonly known tactic for groups to enter stores and have one member steal while others distracted employees. He said at a previous store he worked at in Forrestdale, it was expected that at least one bottle of spirits and a couple of packages of pre-mixed drinks would go missing each week. "The last place I worked at, we kept the spirits up behind the till," he said. "We noticed a bottle of spirits missing and when we looked at the video footage, the guy working had gone into the cold room and in the time he was away, this young fella - he must have been 14 or 15 - has walked in, reached over the counter, grabbed the bottle and then taken off again." A western suburbs liquor store manager said the proximity of his store to a train line made it a target for some thieves, who he described as just "part and parcel of the game".

But he viewed a ban on all underage people entering stores as "quite ridiculous". "If I told a customer [with a child] that they couldn't come in, I don't think they would be coming back here. That's customer service zero," he said. Bentley Bottlemart manager Elaine Teoh said underage theft wasn't an issue for her store and agreed that if juveniles in the company of adults were banned from the store, their parents would likely go somewhere else for their alcohol. - with Liam Ducey Follow WAtoday on Twitter