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>> PEGGY PICO: Half of 15olds who said they drank alcohol last year said they drank at
home. Did you know there is a special law about
that? Most don't.
Cities have enacted social host ordinances but when asked people weren't aware of those
laws. Here to explain it our assistant sheriff,
Patricia Duke and Beth Sykes both with the alcohol council.
How do these laws differ from the law about serving under age kids drinks?
>> State law prohibits possession consuming alcohol if you're
under the age
of 21. >>> We know underage drinking occurs and sadly
when it does there's lots of binge drinking that goes on and this behavior is linked to
inherently dangerous outcomes. Unplanned *** activity, increased suicides,
home sides, assaults, this kind of thing. >> PEGGY PICO: And I think you mentioned there
was something in regards to how many parties like teens feel more comfortable so poisons
is a bigger issue? >> Like I said they're new at the job and
they drink heavily and it doesn't take much to then have alcohol poisoning and unfortunately
unless you get yourself to an emergency room, you could die.
>> PEGGY PICO: Let's make this very real life. Patricia is that, there is a July�4th party,
the police are called how do you go about enforcing this law, what happens?
>> Typically we're not in there to invade on somebody's home party.
We want people to enjoy the holidays but be safe.
When we get called on a social host violation it's usually a "noise call" and when we respond
typically it's obvious. You can look and see a lot of underage drinking,
you see folks that are passed out, you see behaviors, folks vomiting, that's what I want
you to understand is we're not the� the sheriff's department is not there to interrupt
a healthy backyard BBQ party. >> PEGGY PICO: You're not on the prowl, but
you are going to handle things. >>> Yes, and we are going to aggressively
enforce this law and we're going to hold people accountable and social hostses will be arrested.
>> PEGGY PICO: What are the penalties? You can be arrested even if you're 18 or an
adult, what are the penalties for this? >> If you knew or should have known that the
party was in place and alcohol was being served or consumed by somebody under the age of 21
you can be cited or arrested, a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail and a
cost recovery you will be billed for the services� the cost of us to respond to the party.
>> So costly all the way around. Beth, there are reasonable steps that have
been developed that a host can take to prevent underage drinking.
Can you tell us about those? >> Yes, and these are written into the law
as an expectation. You can control the access to the alcohol
of the minors, you can control the amount of liquor that's being served at the party,
pick other alternatives, for example, don't serve too much.
You need to check IDs, verify the age of these young people and make sure they don't have
access and finally supervise and monitor so that access is not given.
>> PEGGY PICO: All right. Thank you both so much, I want to let people
know that there is a whole lot more information on this and links to the sheriff's web site
so before that party people can check it out on our web site, KPBS.org/eveningedition.
Thank you so much.