Strategic Underage Drinking Enforcement Grant Expectations

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Strategic Underage DrinkingEnforcement Grant
Expectations

• Maryann Gotreau
• Maine Office of Substance Abuse
• April 14, 2008

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Enforcement is a Powerful Prevention Tool to

• Reduce underage access
• Communicate community norms for acceptable
  behavior
• Focus on preventing high-risk behavior and
  intervening in developing patterns
• Engage parents and community members as critical
  partners and empower them to address the problem

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Major Components of Successful Strategies

• Written department policy using the Maine Chiefs
  of Police Model Policy
• Aggressive and consistent enforcement
• Targeted enforcement details
• Development of a callout team to respond to
  large underage drinking parties
• Increased communication with parents

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Key Elements For Success

• Leadership from the top to make the effort a high
  priority
• Development of a collaborative task force
• Ongoing problem analysis and strategic planning
• Officer training
• Active communication with parents

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The Results Evidence of Increased Enforcement
Effort
Youth Citations/arrests/summons
Adult Citations/arrests/summons
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Strategic Underage Drinking Enforcement Project

• Project design was based on the success
  demonstrated by previous participants
• 15 grants and 5 mentor grants were awarded
• Grantees are all over the state, 1 sheriffs
  office and 14 police departments

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Required Elements

• Development of a written department underage
  drinking enforcement policy
• Plan to communicate the policy both internally
  and externally
• Training plan ensuring, at a minimum, completion
  of approved training by all officers who will be
  paid out of grant funds

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Required elements continued

• Commitment by department leadership to implement
  an effective and consistent approach to underage
  drinking enforcement
• Implementation of strategies specifically
  designed to increase enforcement of the laws on
  furnishing alcohol and providing a place for
  minors to consume
• Evaluation/data collection

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Key roles of the Chief or Sheriff

• Communication with the public
• Warn people that increased enforcement is coming
• Provide reasons why you are committed to
  increasing enforcement different reasons will
  convince different people
• Get the community to tell you its a problem and
  they want the laws enforced

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Key roles of the Chief or Sheriff Cont

• Setting the tone and the priority level
• Help engage other key partners DA, other
  chiefs/sheriffs, media, etc.

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Prepare to Counter Common Myths and Face Some
Resistance

• Better to teach kids to drink responsibly
• Europe doesnt have a drinking problem
• I drank when I was young and I turned out fine
• Everybody does it, its no big deal
• Youre never going to be able to stop kids from
  drinking they are just going to rebel if you
  crack down

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Next Steps

• 1. Policy implementation and communication within
  your department, as well as with your community
• 2. Training for officers
• 3. Implement strategies

• Problem analysis strategic planning for
  targeted enforcement
• Furnishing investigation strategies
• Brainstorming for media community awareness

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Your turn

• What excites you about this project?
• What worries you about this project?
• What do you need in order to make this approach
  work?
• How can we best support your efforts?

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Final Thoughts

• Enforcement is only one piece of the puzzle, and
  we need to tackle this problem from every
  possible angle. These grants will help, but they
  are not a magic bullet.
• Thank you for your time and commitment!