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Wildwood
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow today
announced a comprehensive law enforcement
and public awareness effort by the Divisions
of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Highway
Traffic Safety to combat underage drinking
in Jersey Shore resort areas this summer.
"Last
year, more than 500 people were arrested
in underage enforcement crackdowns,"
said Attorney General Dow. "This year,
I am calling on our law enforcement partners
to charge these offenders to the fullest
extent of the law. By doing so, we will
be sending a strong message that underage
drinking will not be tolerated in the State
of New Jersey.”
Penalties
for underage drinking include stiff fines
and the loss of a driver’s license
for six months.
“We
all know that driving is a privilege. Take
away that privilege and you’ll get
people’s attention,” added Dow.
Division
of Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Jerry
Fischer added, "Today, the Division
of Alcoholic Beverage Control is sending
a strong message that underage drinking
can have not just legal ramifications, but
also life-changing consequences that affect
the drinker and all of the people whose
lives the drinker may shatter.”
Scores
of law enforcement personnel, trauma officials,
and alcoholic beverage representatives joined
with the Attorney General at a late morning
press conference held in front of the Convention
Center in Wildwood.
Division
of Highway Traffic Safety Director Pam Fischer
stressed the potentially fatal consequences
of not only underage drinking and driving,
but drugged driving. According to Fischer,
in 2008, 28,705 individuals were arrested
in New Jersey for driving while intoxicated,
and of those charged, 2,938 were under the
age of 21.
“While
we continue to make steady progress in our
fight to keep drunk drivers off of our roads,
we still have a long way to go if we are
to ensure that all drivers, and in particular
our newest and youngest ones, remain safe,”
Highway Traffic Safety Director Fischer
said. “Motor vehicle crashes are the
leading cause of death for young people
ages 15 to 20. When you add alcohol to a
young driver’s inexperience and overconfidence
behind the wheel, you have a potentially
deadly situation. The programs we are highlighting
today will help us in our continuing commitment
to both prevent crashes and save lives.”
Highway
Traffic Safety Director Fischer also noted
that law enforcement is now facing an even
more complex problem, and one that is impacting
young people, drugged driving. “We
know that many young drivers feel that while
alcohol is easily detected, the same is
not true for drugs,” she stated. “It’s
extremely disturbing to think that young
people not only believe this, but find this
behavior acceptable. Drugged driving is
not only dangerous, but deadly, and simply
will not be tolerated on New Jersey’s
roadways.”
Efforts
to keep people from underage drinking include
a combination of law enforcement initiatives
and public outreach programs:
Law
enforcement efforts:
Cops in Shops
Cops in Shops is a program designed by the
Century Council, a national not-for-profit
organization funded by distillers. Under
the program, local police officers work
undercover in participating retail locations.
Law enforcement officials either pose as
store employees or are positioned outside
the establishment to apprehend adults who
attempt to purchase alcohol for underage
drinkers.
Last
summer, 211 people were arrested through
the Cops in Shops summer program. This summer,
31 Shore police departments are participating
in the Cops in Shops program, with approximately
$61,000 in funding provided by the Division
of Highway Traffic Safety.
In
addition, 27 police departments, as well
as the Gloucester County Prosecutors’
Office, are running year-round Cops in Shops
programs and/or Undercover Operations beginning
this summer, using funding provided by the
federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention.
The
Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control also
administers the Cops in Shops College-Fall
Initiative. The College-Fall Initiative
grant is available to police departments
in New Jersey with a college or university
either within its borders or in a neighboring
community and is aimed at keeping anyone
under the age of 21 from drinking alcohol.
This program runs from November through
June.
The lists of the towns participating in
each Cops in Shop program can be found following
the press release.
Since its inception in 1996, more than 8,000
underage persons and adults have been arrested
in New Jersey as a result of the Cops in
Shops initiative.
"New Jersey's efforts to combat underage
drinking and in particular the Summer Shore
Initiative are to be held up as the gold
standard on how to successfully conduct
a Cops in Shops program," said Century
Council Traffic Safety Director Ron Engle.
"The Century Council is proud of its
long standing relationship with the New
Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety
which includes the New Jersey Divisions
of Alcoholic Beverage Control and Highway
Traffic Safety."
We
Check for 21
On June 24, more than 400 licensees and
establishment employees attended the “We
Check for 21” ID training program
held at the Wildwoods Convention Center.
This past Memorial Day, 297 individuals
were refused the sale of alcoholic beverages
in Cape May County because they failed to
prove that they were at least 21. Between
2002 and 2010, that number was 3,650.
Public Outreach Efforts:
This past spring, Attorney General Dow and
twelve-time Olympic swimming medalist Dara
Torres teamed up to tape a public service
announcement talking about the importance
of keeping children away from alcohol. The
PSA, which is put out by the Century Council,
highlighted the need for children to maintain
a healthy lifestyle, which includes staying
away from alcohol. The PSA can be viewed
at: www.nj.gov/oag/hts/downloads/video/AG-Dow_Torres_ALL.wmv
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The
Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control continues
its cooperation with the Partnership for
a Drug-Free New Jersey to educate young
people about the dangers of underage drinking.
“The Partnership for a Drug-Free New
Jersey is once again pleased to work with
the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage
Control to help get important and life saving
underage drinking prevention messages out
to the residents of New Jersey through billboard
images created by middle school students,
which utilize peer-to-peer prevention messages,
as well as radio Public Service Announcements
to New Jersey parents which bring to light
the pressures of underage drinking as experienced
by middle school students,” Angelo
Valente, the Executive Director of the Partnership
for a Drug-Free New Jersey said. “It
is only by working together that we can
get these important messages out and help
stem the tide of underage drinking in New
Jersey.”
The Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control
and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New
Jersey paired up to sponsor two initiatives:
“Listen-Up to the Dangers
of Underage Drinking” Radio PSA Program.
Aimed at middle school students, the “Listen-Up”
program challenged young people to create
a script for a 30-second radio public service
announcement that talked directly to parents
about the dangers of underage alcohol use.
The winning students produced and starred
in the radio spots, which were produced
in English and in Spanish, and will be distributed
to stations in the New York, New Jersey,
and Philadelphia media market. The winners
of the English public service announcement
were: Helene Horn Blau, Emily Zimmermann
and Emily Fusco, each of Cinnaminson, and
Alexa Kline of Beverly. The winners of the
Spanish public service announcement were:
Amanda Zurlo and Valerie Moran, both of
Brick.
“Dangers of Underage Drinking”
Billboard/Calendar Competition. This
statewide initiative is designed to encourage
middle school students and their parents
to work together to create billboard/calendar
messages with the theme “Dangers of
Underage Drinking.”
Thirteen winning messages will be featured
on a calendar to be distributed to middle
schools at the start of the 2011 calendar
year. One message will be featured each
month, and the grand-prize winning message
will be displayed on the calendar’s
front cover. Additionally, the grand-prize
winning message will be reproduced on highway
billboards throughout the state. The grand
prize winner is listed below with the finalists:
-
Grand Prize:Kerry Dyke
of Perth Amboy.
- Finalists:
Xavier Newman of South Orange; Kirsten
Anastasio of Rosland; Emily Dufner of
Short Hills; Katie Gettings of Summit;
Mackenzie Nyhuis and Samantha Allen, both
of Ringwood; Ileana Guerrero of Perth
Amboy; Bria Roskowski of Keasbey; Maria
Agnese of Bernardsville; Gabriel Ribeiro
and Sydney Esteves of Newark; and Clara
Marie D. Talban of Belleville.
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