Two-Drink Limit?

Undercover police officers working in nightclubs are under strict orders to adhere to a two-drink limit:

It is an upside-down kind of police work, the opposite of the men and women in blue on sunny streets. There is no uniform, and often no gun, no badge, no bulletproof vest, no radio car with lights and sirens. Instead, officers drive rental cars and are armed with city-issued money and a two-drink limit.

Undercover police work in the city’s nightclubs is a dangerous and vulnerable assignment, the sort of work assigned to the new citywide Club Enforcement Initiative. That unit is under new scrutiny after a police shooting outside a Queens strip club shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday.

According to the police, five officers on the club detail shot into the men’s Nissan Altima, killing a bridegroom and wounding two of his friends. The officers fired 50 rounds, the police said, after the men struck an officer with the car and twice slammed it into an unmarked police van. Officials have said the officers believed there was a gun in the car, but none was found.

Wait, wait — what’s that about a “two-drink limit”?

The officers are allowed two drinks. “We authorize them to have two drinks, and no more,” Mr. Kelly said at a news conference. “This initiative started at one in the morning, so they were there for three hours.”

To abstain from or refuse alcohol, said those familiar with the unit’s tactics, could conceivably tip off other patrons that an undercover operation is taking place.

. . .

At least one of the two undercover officers inside the bar had had two beers between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m., Commissioner Kelly said. That officer was one of the two who did not fire in the shooting. Five officers from the team of seven fired at the Altima. One officer with 12 years of experience fired 31 rounds.

The other undercover officer fired the first shots. Those familiar with that officer’s account have said he believed the men were armed. It is unclear if that officer drank in the club. The police have not yet been able to question him while the Queens district attorney conducts an investigation, Mr. Kelly said.

A commanding officer found all the officers fit for duty — meaning they showed no signs of being impaired by alcohol — during the operation outside Club Kalua in Jamaica, the police said.