When state liquor officials and the local police invited Concord's bar and restaurant owners to a "conversation" on serving alcohol safely and responsibly, they didn't know what to expect. Would bar owners come, or would they stay home, fearing a tense finger-pointing session?

They need not have worried.

Nearly 40 people from Concord's 60 bars, restaurants and clubs with liquor licenses spent two hours yesterday sharing their fears about over-serving and brainstorming ways to keep their patrons and the community safe.

It's illegal in New Hampshire to serve minors and anyone who is already intoxicated. Both take unwavering vigilance, they said. Impairment is especially hard to detect, they said, because it's too late if someone is already too drunk to stand or speak clearly.

"It's very hard to be 24/7 on this stuff," said Greg Makris of the Makris Lobster and Steak House. "But anytime . . . the people in power are listening, it always is good. Just the fact that the doors are opening up and we are having a conversation is good."

Concord doesn't have some of the liquor-related crimes - shootings and assaults inside clubs and bars - that plague bigger cities. But it's not without problems. Police Chief Robert Barry told the audience yesterday that the biggest concerns for his department are underage drinking, driving while intoxicated, drug use while drinking and crimes fueled by alcohol.

In 2006, the police made 179 arrests for driving while intoxicated, he said. Last year, the number was 193 and included an alleged drunken driver who hit and badly injured two bicyclists on Main Street after leaving a downtown bar.

By next year, Barry expects drunk driving arrests to reach 250, he said. Overdose deaths from prescription or illegal drugs in the city are also higher than Barry would like, he said. In the last two years, there have been nearly 20 deaths from drug overdoses. In most cases, autopsy results showed the person had also been drinking alcohol.

One bright spot has been the underage drinking stings done by local police and state liquor enforcement officials. The first year those agencies checked for age compliance, nearly half the establishments failed. During the most recent check, done this month, only 14 percent did.

"You represent a major economic force in the community," Barry told the crowd. "We are not here to limit your rights. The vast majority of you provide a service in a very responsible manner, and I congratulate you on that. It's the irresponsible use of alcohol that we focus on."

Chief Eddie Edwards and investigator Edward Alterisio of the state liquor enforcement bureau echoed that. Edwards said his goal is to use his office's enforcement power not as a hammer but as an incentive to help bar staff serve beer, wine and liquor safely.

When Edwards and the others opened the session to questions and comments, there were too many to answer in an hour.

Makris and the owner of the Windmill Restaurant said they'd like the state to issue driver's licenses that more clearly identify anyone too young to drink. Edwards said that is coming this summer. Licenses for anyone under 21 will be the same size and shape as a regular license, but they'll be read vertically rather than horizontally. And they'll expire when the person turns 21.

Steve Martin from the Capitol Center for the Arts asked whether establishments should consider breath tests for patrons. Edwards advised against it, saying it's better practice to monitor the signs of intoxication: slurred speech, staggering and bloodshot eyes. Law enforcement, he said, won't hold a bar owner responsible if a person is over the legal limit but does not appear intoxicated.

Brian Shea, owner of the Barley House, asked whether underage people who buy alcohol are penalized along with the establishment that served them. Edwards said anyone with a fake identification card faces a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Over-serving, rather than serving to minors, seemed the bigger concern. A customer may seem impaired to one employee but not another, they said. Edwards suggested limiting a person's drinks to no more than four in an hour and to have conversations with the people ordering drinks as a way to gauge their behavior.

There was also concern among the audience about the state Liquor Commission both policing establishments and then deciding their fate. Some in the crowd also didn't understand why liquor officials can adjust some penalties. Wouldn't it be more fair, they asked, to have a set punishment?

Edwards said the liquor commissioners, who are appointed by the governor, are more independent and unbiased than some believe. They sometimes rule against the penalty recommendations of his office, he said.

And penalty adjustments, he said, benefit establishments more than they hurt them. For example, a restaurant or bar that violates a liquor law can get a lesser punishment if they send their staff to the state's free liquor training or take precautions to avoid the problem at the time. That training is offered weekly, usually in Concord but can also be done at a person's bar or restaurant.

Kyle Fillion, general manager of the Red Blazer Restaurant and Pub, took notes during yesterday's session and explained afterward that he's in the process of changing the Blazer's bar atmosphere to draw a more adult crowd. The bands, for example, are gone.

He began requiring all bartenders to take the state's free training class earlier this year, after a patron left his bar and was stopped for driving while intoxicated. He wasn't aware of the training opportunities before that, he said.

"I really see (liquor officials and the police) as education, not enforcement," he said. "I really feel they want to help us. We are there to serve responsibly."