MANKATO — One of the typically busiest nights for drunken driving was used to launch a new program that takes DWI enforcement from the streets into Mankato’s bars.

Mankato police officers partnered with state alcohol and gambling enforcement agents to patrol both back roads and bar stools Wednesday night. The plan was to track the drunkest of drunken drivers back to the bars where they were celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

It’s called Retail Alcohol Vendor Enforcement and Education, or RAVE. It has some Mankato bar owners hoping it leads to responsible serving without taking the enforcement part too far.

Devin Gasswint, one of downtown Mankato’s more outspoken bar owners, said he learned about RAVE Monday. “I hope it’s a positive thing and they don’t come at it with a negative attitude.”

It’s not uncommon for area law enforcement officers, including State Patrol troopers, to do saturation patrols during popular holidays for drinking. During the past several years, St. Patrick’s Day has had the highest percentage of alcohol-related traffic deaths in the state.

Every trooper in the Mankato area joined Mankato police officers and Blue Earth County sheriff’s deputies on area roads Wednesday, watching for drunken drivers.

What was different from past holidays is agents from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division also were patrolling bars in the city. They were watching for bartenders who were serving people who already had been served too much.

If agents saw an obviously intoxicated person served, their job was to address the situation immediately and talk to bar owners or managers, said special agent Carla Cincotta.

That portion of the enforcement started as a pilot program in Anoka in 2008. It’s been repeated several times since then, mostly in Twin Cities suburbs. Cincotta said this is the first time alcohol and gambling agents have brought the RAVE program to an outstate city.

They started by having face-to-face meetings with managers and owners at 12 of Mankato’s 60 or so bars. Other bar owners were given packets reminding them it’s illegal to serve someone who is obviously intoxicated and that they’re responsible for the conduct of their customers. Those owners also were offered free employee education options, although bartenders working in Mankato already are required to attend classes provided by the city.

Out on the streets, the officers who stopped drunken drivers with blood-alcohol concentrations of .16 or higher were asking those drivers if they had been at a Mankato bar. If they had, alcohol and gambling agents followed up by checking that bar. If the person stopped happened to be someone an agent had already noticed, a civil fine of between $200 and $2,000 could be coming for that bar’s owner.

In most cases, education is the preferred route for agents, Cincotta said. That’s been the case in the Twin Cities where hundreds of bars have been visited and only a handful have been fined.

“I think it’s important that the bar owners and others in the liquor industry know we’re rowing the boat in the same direction,” she said. “We realize they’re running a business and want to have a fun atmosphere. We just want to stop having people served when they’ve obviously had too much.

“We want to work together to reduce the impact of alcohol-related injuries, accidents and crimes.”

Gasswint of South Street Saloon said he has nothing to gain from serving someone who has had too much. Those are the customers who vomit in the bathrooms or pick fights with others.

So he won’t mind having agents check his establishment out. He’s just hoping they aren’t unreasonable. One concern is some experienced drinkers can hit an blood-alcohol concentration of .16, twice the legal limit of .08 for driving, without showing obvious signs of intoxication.

“Everyone knows I run a tight ship,” Gasswint said. “We tell people, if it’s time for you to go, you’re gone. If you’re a troublemaker, you’re gone for good. We’re here to entertain people and keep them safe.”

He also wants his customers to be held accountable for their own behavior.

Brice Hanson and three of his friends from Maple Grove were getting started early Wednesday afternoon. Hanson, on spring break from North Dakota State University, was visiting a friend at Minnesota State University. He agreed with Gasswint.

His group was dropped off downtown by a sober driver and they were planning to take a cab home. Still, he was leery about having state agents keeping an eye on him at the bar. It would be better to focus on drivers, Hanson said.

That’s the point of the new program, said Matt DuRose, Mankato Police Department detective commander. The people who are having fun have nothing to worry about. And bar owners and bartenders are only being asked to do things they’re already required to do by law.

There will likely be similar patrols in the future, he added.

“We’re doing this because this is a way we can prevent drunk drivers from getting on the road to begin with,” DuRose said.

Even Hanson, who lost his license for a driving while intoxicated offense, agrees with that.

“I totally regret it,” he said. “And I let my friends know it’s not a good idea.”