Police: Underage Drinking, Driving Increases Around Graduation

If Woodbury police hear about a wild party involving underage people, they will go so far as to get a search warrant to enter the home.

"We take underage drinking very seriously," Cmdr. Jay Alberio said. "We will investigate to our fullest ability."

With graduation approaching, police departments across the state keep an eye on young people who may go a little overboard with their celebrations. There is typically a spike in underage drinking this time of year, Alberio said, not just from high school students, but also from college students under 21 who come home and meet up with friends for a drink.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom knows all too well the toll that drinking and driving can take: His mother was crippled after her car was struck by a 15-year-old drunk driver.

Which is why Backstrom personally attends many of the mock car crashes held for Dakota County high school students in the spring. It's no coincidence that those elaborate accident reconstructions are staged in April and May. The number of alcohol-related accidents involving underage drinkers increases just after high school graduation in the late spring, Backstrom said.

“Every year, we see an increase in these issues around major high school events, like prom and graduation, so it’s a concern in the springtime,” he said.

With that in mind, area law enforcement agencies are gearing up for graduation-night celebrations around Minnesota, which often means underage drinking and driving—and potentially serious consequences.

“A lot of kids don’t think anything bad is going to happen to them—it’s always somebody else,” said Sgt. Mark Hlady of the Rice County Sheriff’s Office. “They need a reminder that things can happen in an instant.”

In April, hosted a in an effort to show students what an actual incident is like.

“It’s just something that I hope will have an impact,” said Tom Ehrenberg, the school resource officer at East Ridge who spearheaded the program. “Our goal is to reach a few (students) and if we can stop just one accident, I would be happy.”

While most county sheriffs—and the Inver Grove Heights Police Department— don’t step up patrols specifically to coincide with graduation nights, they’re aware that underage drinking and DUIs are likely when new graduates and friends get together to celebrate.

“We always see an increase in impaired drivers and fatal crashes when the warm weather rolls around every year,” said Lt. Eric Roeske, public information officer for the Minnesota State Patrol. “But obviously enforcement can take us only so far. We can’t enforce our way out of this stuff; it’s got to be a change in the way people think and set priorities that will make a true impact.”

The state patrol has programs in place in which officers visit schools and educate students about the decisions they make as both drivers and passengers, Roeske

Dakota County Sheriff Dave Bellows praised the all-night post-graduation parties that more schools host each year. But he says the most effective tool is still communication.

“Parents are taking a more progressive role in making sure that kids don’t have access to alcohol, and that’s a real positive,” Bellows said. “It’s important to know where your kids are going, and if they’re going to a party, make sure that alcohol won’t be included.

“And if a kid does drink, make sure there’s a safety net, that he or she can call home and get a ride. I’m not sanctioning underage drinking—it’s still wrong—but we have to drive home the idea that drinking and driving don’t mix.”

The Inver Grove Heights Police Department has distributed drinking and driving-related brochures at Simley High School, Lt. Larry Stanger said. At Simley's prom this year, the department's school liaison officer administered breathalyzer tests to students attending the event, and called the parents of any student who tested positive.

But enforcement around graduation, when many students attend house parties or bonfires where drinking takes place, is more difficult for the department, Stanger said. In the case of a house party, officers must receive a complaint or observe underage drinking at the event in order to take action.

“It’s a reactive-type approach," Stanger said.

In Washington County, the sheriff’s office uses Facebook to get the word out about the dangers of underage drinking and driving while impaired, Sgt. Kyle Schenck said. In addition, the office also has school resource officers who talk to students about making good decisions.

Ultimately, Bellows said, parents and teens should be aware of the consequences of their actions.

“Graduation should be a time of celebration, and we don’t want to see it turn into a time of tragedy,” he said. “We deal with this very, very seriously.”

Drunk Driving Statistics*

• In 2009, there were five alcohol-related traffic deaths and 2,337 DWIs recorded in Dakota County.
• The total cost of alcohol-related deaths in 2009 in Dakota County was $6.5 million.
• From 2007 to 2009, 33 people were seriously injured in alcohol-related crashes in Dakota County.
• There were 32,756 impaired driving incidents in 2009 in Minnesota. This number represents an 8 percent decrease over the previous year. Drivers under the age of 21 accounted for 8 percent of those incidents.
• There were 141 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2009 in Minnesota.
• People who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence than those who wait until age 21. Each additional year of delayed drinking onset reduces the probability of alcohol dependence by 14 percent.

*Statistics courtesy of the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety and the Dakota County Attorney's office.