KVUE News has learned that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission recently put into policy what was a temporary suspension of undercover stings of intoxicated persons.

The agency's newly revised enforcement policies issued this January now prohibit agents from going into bars in an undercover capacity looking for drunks who continue to be served.

The undercover sting operations of intoxicated persons grew criticism locally and statewide.

In 2005 through 2006, TABC agents working undercover arrested seven bartenders --one of them twice -- at the Dallas Nite Club, a north Austin bar on Burnet Road. In 2005, authorities said the club had the most drunk drivers leaving its premises than any other club or bar in Austin. Dallas Nite Club fought for its liquor license in front of a state administrator in January 2006 and won.

Since then Dallas Nite Club owners say their business has suffered significantly.

Scott Bennett, a manager at the Dallas Nite Club says at the height of the stings that business was down 86 percent. But he added that the crowds are coming back.

Administrators at the TABC who quietly enacted this new policy wouldn't elaborate on what led the agency to make the decision to prohibit undercover sting operations of intoxicated people.

Glenda Baker, an assistant chief in the enforcement division of the TABC admitted that the agency may have focused too heavily on undercover intoxication stings in bars and clubs in the past but she says the decision was based on logistics.

Baker says the TABC will continue to review the new policy but she says working in an undercover capacity just for those types of violations often takes a lot of time and money.

TABC agents are still allowed to conduct undercover sting operations when they deal with minors, drugs or prostitution.