By MERI KENNEDY

Beginning this Saturday there will be a new patrol on the streets of Cranston and teens better take notice.

These “party patrols” by the Cranston Police Department will be deployed on weekend nights and around major holidays as a means to discourage drinking and driving and illicit narcotics activity. Not only will officers respond immediately to complaints of alcohol and drug activity but they will also be proactive in searching out sources of underage drinking and drug activity within the city.

To assist in this effort the department has set up an anonymous tip-line for citizens. This direct line to the dispatch center will enable the caller to report suspected underage alcohol or drug use.

The Cranston Police Department, Cranston Substance Abuse Task Force and Comprehensive Community Action Program have partnered for this effort to combat a national trend against underage drinking and narcotics use.

The initiative, sponsored through a three-year grant totaling $600,000 by the Cranston Substance Abuse Task Force and CCAP, has allocated $90,000 for the party patrol and associated police enforcement. Organizers said the grant would also be used to further educate the public about the problem and provide resources and information to parents and teens.

“This program was initiated in part as a response to citizen concern of underage drinking and drug use,” said Mayor Michael A. Napolitano. “With teenage alcohol and drug use more prevalent in our community, the party patrols, which will be conducted by the Cranston Police, may save the lives of some of our youngest residents.”

According to U.S. Department of Human Services, in 2007 approximately 10 to 20 percent of 12-year-olds said they have used alcohol at least once. By age 13 that number doubles and by age 15, approximately 50 percent have had at least one drink.

Commander Kevin Lynch helped to create the program and said he thinks patrols will be crucial in preventing a national trend from further rooting itself in our community.

“We believe that our plan, a professional approach to a growing problem – backed up with proactive policy and procedures – will serve to make significant inroads to what we judge to be one of the root causes of crime in our society,” said Lynch.

In addition to the party patrols and an electronic media outreach program, the Cranston Police Department has acquired a trained narcotics detection canine, named Bosco, with funding support in the amount of $11,500 from the Task Force/CCAP. Bosco, a Yellow Labrador, will work to prevent narcotics activities in the schools and drug use by students with the help of his partner, Officer Greg Bruno.

Lynch believes that combined, these measures could not be coming at a better time, with high school students getting ready to celebrate the end of the school year.

“Keeping in mind that prom season is beginning; police officers will be visible at the area proms and school dances as well as areas known to have complaints of narcotics use,” he said, going on to explain that by addressing the issue on every front, they hope to see a difference immediately.

“It is our intention to use this multi-faceted approach, increased directed patrols – an anonymous tip-line – a trained narcotics canine – a comprehensive school-based personal outreach, as a means to preempt a growing problem that tragically exists in our nation,” said Lynch.

The Cranston Substance Abuse Task Force has been serving the city of Cranston since 1988. In the past few years it has funded educational workshops on adolescent safety, after-school programs, bullying programs and a variety of other programs. In 2006 the task force came under the leadership of Comprehensive Community Action Program, which has been serving Cranston for more than 40 years.

“We work to educate the public on the risks associated with alcohol and illicit drug use and are taking a pro-active approach to the program,” said Task Force Coordinator Dana DeVerna.

Just as coordinators like DeVerna are working to educate the community, others involved are continuing to educate themselves on the best ways to combat underage drinking and drug use.

Chief of Police, Colonel Stephen McGrath, cited a seminar he previously attended on the continuing problems of underage parties called “Underage Underground” as one of the driving forces behind this new program. The “Underage Underground” stressed the ways in which teens keep their illegal habits secret, and also highlighted the often-fatal consequences of these behaviors; a lesson he took home with him.

According to Colonel McGrath, teens caught at underage drinking parties, whether they are caught within a home, in a public location or even in a less open location such as in the woods, will be faced with possession charges and, he also said that the Social Host Law will be strictly enforced, which holds parents or adults who provide or allow access to alcohol to minors liable for injuries or deaths resulting from the substance use.

“Underage parties occur in every town,” said McGrath. “Teens today are much more mobile then they were 10 or 20 years ago. We have seen too many countless deaths and tragedies over the past few years.”

Those tragedies are exactly what CCAP and the Cranston Police are hoping to prevent, according to CCAP Executive Director Joanne McGunagle.

“This is a great opportunity for serving a community need and to help prevent all senseless deaths or injuries to teens,” she said.

For more information on combating teen drinking and drug use, visit the newly updated Cranston Police Web site at CranstonPolice.com/parents.htm. To report underage parties or illegal activity, call the tip-line directly at 401-477-5199.