What Police Can Do

The role of police enforcement in reducing youth access to alcohol

Enacting and implementing alcohol control policies is an important step in reducing underage access to alcohol. However, such policies cannot be fully effective without enforcement. (1, 2, 3) It is imperative that local law enforcement provides effective and consistent enforcement of policies affecting underage access to alcohol. Without such enforcement, communities may begin to view alcohol control policies as meaningless and violations of such policies as acceptable.

The role of police in enforcing laws aimed at reducing youth access to alcohol should not be limited to punishing youth who violate these laws. Instead, law enforcement agencies should: (1) include a variety of prevention-oriented strategies in their efforts to reduce commercial access to alcohol by young people; (2) invest time and effort in identifying and punishing adults over the age of 21 who illegally provide or sell alcohol to underage youth; and (3) take measures to train police officers in more effective strategies of enforcing youth access laws.

• Ask underage youth who are caught drinking to disclose the source of their alcohol. Although youth are often reluctant to divulge the identity of their alcohol supplier, police can provide incentives for disclosure, such as reduced penalties for the underage offender. With this information, police can then give a citation to the adult supplier.

Strategies to reduce commercial access:

• Conduct a minimum of 2 compliance checks in each licensed alcohol establishment each year. Police need to consistently enforce penalties against alcohol establishments that serve or sell alcohol to underage persons. Such enforcement may be accomplished through strategies such as random compliance checks by local law enforcement. Compliance checks have been shown to substantially reduce sales to minors. (4, 5) (See compliance checks policy).
• Conduct weekly walk-throughs of licensed establishments . Regular visits to licensed establishments may help establish a police presence and serve as a reminder to merchants that police intend to punish merchants who provide alcohol to underage youth. (6)
• Develop a system to monitor alcohol-related problems associated with community events and specific establishments. Such a system may help identify specific problem areas in the community, which may guide future law enforcement efforts and policy development.

Strategies to reduce social access:

• Consistently enforce laws against adult providers and social hosts. Penalties against adult providers must be consistently enforced. Social host liability policies can help penalize adult providers and policies such as keg registration can assist law enforcement in identifying adults who provide alcohol to underage persons. (See social host liability and keg registration policies).
• Routinely conduct investigative checks of adults who are approached outside alcohol outlets and asked to buy alcohol for youth. Youthful-looking persons can be employed to approach an adult outside stores that sell alcohol and ask the adult to buy alcohol for them. Adults who do buy alcohol for the underage-appearing person can then be approached by an officer and informed of the penalties for provision of alcohol to minors.
• Work with parents, schools, churches, youth and other community members concerned about underage access to alcohol. Such collaborations may help police identify and prevent underage drinking parties before they happen. For example, if a high school teacher hears about plans for an upcoming party at a student's house, he can notify the police who can then visit the home where the party is to take place.

• Require each officer to attend an annual training session on the prevention of alcohol-related problems. This training can educate officers about the seriousness of the underage drinking problem and the importance of their role in reducing underage access to alcohol. In addition, such training can be used to educate officers on how a proactive approach to reducing youth access to alcohol can be more cost-effective and efficient than a reactive approach to underage access.

  If it is impractical to have every officer trained, at a minimum each local police agency should have at least one designated alcohol control officer who is very knowledgeable about alcohol enforcement and can serve as a resource to all officers in the unit.
  

References

1. Wagenaar AC, Wolfson M. Deterring sales and provision of alcohol to minors: A study of enforcement in 295 counties in four states. Public Health Reports, 110(4):419-427, 1995.
   
2. Wagenaar AC, Wolfson M. Enforcement of the minimum drinking age in the United States. Journal of Public Health Policy, 15(1):37-53, 1994.
   
3. Wolfson M, Wagenaar AC, Hornseth GW. Law officers' views on enforcement of the minimum drinking age: A four-state study. Public Health Reports, 110(4):428-438, 1995.
   
4. Preusser DF, Williams AF, Weinstein HB. Policing underage alcohol sales. Journal of Safety Research, 25(3):127-133, 1994.
   
5. Wagenaar AC, Toomey TL, Erickson DJ. Preventing youth access to alcohol: Outcomes from a multi-community time-series trial. Addicition, 100(3):335-345, 2005.
   
6. Jeffs BW, Saunders WM. Minimizing alcohol related offences by enforcement of the existing licensing legislation. British Journal of Addiction, 78:67-77, 1983.

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