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Improve the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement: Introduction

Strategies and Approaches to Improve the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement

  1. Enforce laws for underage drinking

  2. Enforce zero tolerance laws for underage drinking and driving

  3. Enforce laws and penalties for adults who provide alcohol to minors

  4. Strengthen penalties for creating or possessing false IDs

  5. Conduct random, periodic decoy and shoulder-tap operations

  6. Increase use of DUI checkpoints and other enforcement tactics

  7. Enforce alcohol restrictions in public locations

  8. Enforce beer keg registration

  9. Develop and implement controlled party dispersal plans

What Communities Can Do

What Parents Can Do

What Agencies Can Do

What Schools Can Do

Strategies & Approaches › Improve Law Enforcement › Enforce Zero Tolerance Laws for Underage Drinking and Driving

Enforce Zero Tolerance Laws for Underage Drinking and Driving

Every state and the District of Columbia have a “zero tolerance” policy with regard to measurable blood alcohol content for drivers under the age of 21. Young drivers who are found to have a blood alcohol content higher than 0.02 percent can have their license immediately seized and revoked and be subject to significant fines. This enforcement strategy is connected to federal highway dollars to ensure continued state support; variation exists in this policy among the U.S. territories and possessions.

Youth Operators Blood Alcohol Concentration Limit Laws as of 1/1/2006
(From APIS—Alcohol Policy Information System)

Youth Operators Blood Alcohol Concentration Limit Laws as of 1/1/2006

Issue The zero tolerance law in the community is not enforced.

Strategy

Officers need to be trained to take enforcement action when identifying even low levels of alcohol in young drivers. Such training might include knowledge of the statute, application of implied consent under the statute, and procedures for handling juveniles. In general, officers identify these violations only after the vehicle has been stopped for some other reason such as speeding or suspected Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) over the 0.10 percent or 0.08 percent adult legal limit. Unlike DWI identifications, there are currently no standardized, documented cues to aid officers in the detection of zero tolerance violators within a moving traffic stream.

For additional strategies and approaches for improving the effectiveness of law enforcement, see the following:

What You Can Do: Community
What You Can Do: Parents
What You Can Do: Agencies
What You Can Do: Schools

References:
Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

A Guide to Zero Tolerance and Graduated Licensing: Two Strategies that Work. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Available at:  http://www.udetc.org/documents/Guide2zero.pdf#search=%22a%20guide%20to%20zero%20tolerance%20and%20graduated%20licensing%22. Accessed on [09/06/06]

California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Develops an Innovative Liquor Law Enforcement Program—TRACE—to Enforce Underage Drinking Laws. Successful Innovations: News from the Field. Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center. Jan. 2005. http://www.udetc.org/success_stories/CA0105.pdf. [Accessed on 08/02/06]

Bonnie, R.J. & M.E. O’Connell (eds). 2003. Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Shoulder Tap Program. 2003. Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Available at:  http://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/Shoulder_tap.html. Accessed on [09/06/06]

Shoulder Tap Program. 2003. Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Available at:  http://www.abc.ca.gov/programs/Shoulder_tap.html. Accessed on [09/06/06]

Saturation Patrols and Sobriety Checkpoints. Available at:  http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/SobrietyCheck/. Accessed on [09/06/06]

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

A Practical Guide to Preventing and Dispersing Underage Drinking Parties. 2005. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation: Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.

Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

Johnson, K.D. Underage Drinking: Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Problem-Specific Guides Services. U.S. Dept. of Justice. Available at: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/PDFs/underage.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20alcohol%20free%20events%20and%20underage%20drinking%22. Accessed on [09/01/06]

Underage Drinking Prevention Action Guide and Planner. 2001. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Available at: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/phd858.pdf#search=%22underage%20drinking%20prevention%20action%20guide%20and%20planner%22. Accessed on [08/25/06]

A Practical Guide to Preventing and Dispersing Underage Drinking Parties. 2005. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation: Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.

A Practical Guide to Preventing and Dispersing Underage Drinking Parties. 2005. Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation: Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.


Underage Drinking in California: California Town Hall Meetings. Community Prevention Institute. March, 2006.

Facts for Teens: Teens and Alcohol. National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. 2002. http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/teens/alcohol.asp. Accessed on [07/28/06]

Youth and Underage Drinking: An Overview. US Department of Health and Human Services. http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/govpubs/RPO990/. [Accessed on 08/01/06]

Spear, L.P. Alcohol’s Effects on Adolescents. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 2003.
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