MARLBORO — Underage drinkers may soon face more than just an embarrassing walk to their car as a consequence of attempting to purchase alcohol illegally at a liquor store in Marlboro.
The Marlboro Police Department recently applied for a grant for the 2011-12 Cops in Shops initiative.
If the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) awards the grant to the township, police officers will work undercover and form a partnership with participating retail establishments to catch people under the age of 21 who are attempting to purchase alcohol, Marlboro police Capt. Steve Mennona said.
Two police officers will most likely work together, posing as employees or customers of the business and looking for underage customers and willing adult suppliers, according to a notice from the ABC.
After an officer witnesses an attempt by an individual to illegally purchase alcohol, he will arrest and charge that person with various crimes, depending on the circumstances of each situation, Mennona said.
Potential charges may include possession of false identification, underage possession of alcohol, and having an open container of an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle, the captain said.
“Sometimes you have other arrests,” Mennona said. “This opens the doors for drug arrests, too.”
The officers will also try to catch adults in the act of providing alcohol to minors, he said, adding, “Hopefully, most responsible adults will know that is the wrong thing to do, but in addition to it being wrong, they are contributing to the delinquency of people. They could find themselves open to trouble.”
Mennona said the possibility of civil lawsuits also exists for adult offenders.
The undesirable outcomes are meant to discourage other underage individuals from trying to buy alcohol, while putting a dent in the number of underage drinkers in a community, according to the notice.
“It is a deterrent,” Mennona said. “The kids find out what happened (when someone gets arrested) and the word gets out; not that they don’t stop trying to (buy alcohol), but it deters some.”
Business owners will be encouraged to post warnings to potential underage customers, Mennona told the News Transcript. He said tactics used to dissuade minors from even trying to buy alcohol are a key component of the initiative.
Mennona said that generally speaking, the officers will focus on stores that sell packaged goods, rather than restaurants.
Police officials are hoping to perform the Cops in Shops operation in the spring, Mennona said.
“A time of the year when we try to implement the program is during prom season,” the captain said. “You will see high school seniors try to get alcohol.”
If the police department receives the grant this time around, it will mark the second time Marlboro officers will have conducted the program in town, Mennona said.
Officers made five arrests last year during the Cops in Shops initiative, Mennona said .
TheABC provides training for police officers which focuses on the recognition of fake identification, Mennona said.
The Division of Highway Traffic Safety provided the ABC with a $65,000 grant for the current initiative. ABC officials are now in the process of distributing sub-grants to municipal police departments.
The program runs from Dec. 1 to June 15, according to the notice.
Although the program is not competitive, the number of applications received will affect the amount of money and the number of towns involved in the program, according to the ABC.
The Marlboro Police Department is awaiting grant approval, Mennona said. He said he expects to hear from ABC officials soon.
The Century Council, a national nonprofit organization, created the Cops in Shops program in an attempt to decrease the amount of underage drinking in the United States, according to the notice.