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College Towns Pushed to Curb Minors' Drinking: The Liquor Control Board is Giving Police Money to Focus on Providers of Alcohol to Underage Drinkers

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By Benjamin Y. Lowe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dec. 27--State alcohol regulators are encouraging police departments in a handful of college towns across the state to try a new tack to cork underage drinking.

The state Liquor Control Board launched a grant program this year designed to encourage police departments to focus on those who provide alcohol to minors, such as bars, stores and adults, not just those too young to drink.

Six communities, many of which host colleges, received grants ranging from $10,000 to $12,000 for programs set to begin next month. The LCB expects police departments to use the money to investigate how alcohol ends up in the hands of minors, and arrest the providers.

The LCB expanded the program statewide after an 18-month pilot program in State College. The board hopes the program will help police think creatively about curbing what many think has become a cultural norm: underage drinking as a college rite of passage.

"What we were finding as we looked around the state was there was not as much attention to the sources as to the actual underage drinking," said Steven Schmidt, director of alcohol education at the LCB. "We wanted to make sure that local police, where possible, could follow up, as opposed to just arresting young people and have that be the end of it."

The Century Council, a Washington nonprofit that has partnered with the LCB, said in April that 65 percent of those who drink while underage obtain their alcohol from parents or friends.

In the Philadelphia suburbs, money will go to police departments in Radnor, West Chester, and New Britain Borough. Those convicted of providing alcohol to minors will receive a mandatory $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail per instance, Radnor Police Lt. A.J. Antonini said.

State College Police Sgt. Dana Leonard said the department used the program to focus on a small number of troublesome suppliers, instead of thousands of students.

"This is trying to focus on dangerous drinking behavior that we have found originates a lot of the time at off-campus parties," he said. "This is a better way to focus our limited resources."

Of the three local departments, only New Britain Borough has begun its program.

Radnor Township, home to Villanova and many other colleges, and West Chester, home to West Chester University, plan to launch their programs in January.

"We're going to bring criminal charges if we can find the sources," rather than file just a summary charge for underage drinking, said David Sempowski, New Britain's police chief. "That alone, we hope, will scare people off from hosting parties and providing alcohol."

He declined to give details on pending investigations.

Police in West Chester have worked hard over the last four years to crack down on underage drinking, but they, too, have been overwhelmed by the large number of bars and college students who live off-campus.

"This is in addition to everything we've done in the past," West Chester Police Sgt. John O'Donnell said. "It's become a bit of a societal norm that underage drinking and irresponsible drinking in a college town is acceptable. But not only has it become unacceptable, it is illegal."

Contact staff writer Benjamin Y. Lowe at 610-701-7615 or blowe@phillynews.com.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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