Improve the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement

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Improve the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement: Introduction

Strategies and Approaches to Improve the Effectiveness of Law Enforcement

What Communities Can Do

What Parents Can Do

What Agencies Can Do

What Schools Can Do

Strategies & Approaches › Improve Law Enforcement › Enforce Beer Keg Registration

Enforce Beer Keg Registration

Police have noted that it is often difficult to identify the adult responsible for providing alcohol to minors at large house parties, particularly keg parties on college campuses. Keg registration links buyer information to the keg itself, through tags, stickers, or ID numbers stenciled on the keg. At the retail outlet, the buyer must provide ID and contact information, and may also be required to sign a statement indicating awareness that it is illegal to furnish alcohol to minors. When police seize a keg of beer at a party where underage drinking is occurring, the person responsible for furnishing the alcohol can be easily identified through the retailer. This strategy is relatively low-cost. However, a number of jurisdictions have noted that retailers can exploit voluntary keg registration by advertising their refusal to participate (e.g., "We don't use keg tracking"). Thus, it may be sensible to make keg registration mandatory.

Keg Registration Laws as of 1/1/2006
(From APIS—Alcohol Policy Information System)

Keg Registration Laws as of January 1, 2006

Issue

Keg parties are a popular form of entertainment for young people in our community and often lead to binge drinking and drinking and driving by teenagers.

Strategy

Contact your local law enforcement agency and ABC board to express your concerns. Suggest that all vendors be required to tag their kegs and record the purchaser. Request that police conduct impaired-driving checkpoints in areas where keg parties are known to commonly take place. Educate parents concerning the dangers of keg parties and potential host liabilities. Explore the option of developing a flyer or pamphlet that outlines these dangers and liabilities that can be given out by the vendor with each keg purchase. Consider having the names of adult violators published in the local media.

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]

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]

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.