Purpose:
Commissioned by the San Diego County Policy Panel on Youth Access
to Alcohol in 1999, the Law Enforcement Task Force on Underage Drinking
was established by the San Diego County Police Chiefs and Sheriff's
Association to proactively address the public health epidemic of underage
drinking.
Serving the
Chiefs and Sheriff's Association in an advisory capacity, the purpose
of the Task Force is to develop region-wide consistency of enforcement
approaches to prevent youth access to alcohol and underage drinking.
Mission:
The mission of the Task Force is to
provide a forum to bring law enforcement within San Diego County together
to ensure active, region -wide cooperation, consistency of enforcement
of alcoholic beverage statutes and to establish community partnerships.
Membership:
California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Carlsbad Police
Department, California Highway Patrol, Chula Vista Police Department,
Coronado Police Department, El Cajon Police Department, Escondido
Police Department, La Mesa Police Department, National City Police
Department, Oceanside Police Department, San Diego City Attorney's
office, San Diego County District Attorney's office, San Diego Harbor
Police, San Diego County Marshall's office, San Diego Police Department,
San Diego County Probation Department, San Diego County Sheriff's
Department, SDSU Campus Police, USD Public Safety, UCSD Campus Police,
USN Shore Patrol, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs Service, and U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).
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High-Visibility
Operations That Utilize Media Advocacy
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The
Task Force conducts regional joint enforcement operations such as minor
decoys, shoulder taps, and party dispersals that are directed at reducing
access to alcohol by youth and increasing the perception of risk.
These
efforts:
- Demonstrate
law enforcement's commitment to work as a team to solve the problem
of underage drinking.
- Reduce
the availability and use of alcohol by minors and the problems associated
with it.
- Raise
regional awareness of the importance of enforcing underage drinking
laws.
- Increase
the public's awareness that underage drinking causes crime and negatively
affects youth.
- Change
public behavior through aggressive enforcement, sound educational
approaches, and community support.
- Provide
an example of how true partnership between the Public Safety and Public
Health sectors of our community can successfully reduce the seemingly
intransigent problem of underage drinking.
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Operation Safeguard is part of a national effort to reduce the availability
of alcohol to minors, increase the compliance of underage drinking
laws regarding adult providers, youth, and to change community norms.
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