(A) Underage persons consuming alcoholic beverages at gatherings held at private residences or at rented residential and commercial premises is harmful to the underage persons themselves and a threat to the peace, health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property and the general welfare of the public. Underage persons, who have been consuming alcoholic beverages, are at greater risk to be in automobile accidents and otherwise harm themselves and/or others, to commit suicide, to be assaulted or assault others, and girls are at greater risk of sexual assaults.
(B) Persons responsible for the occurrence of these types of gatherings on private property over which they have possession or control have failed to ensure that alcoholic beverages are neither served to nor consumed by underage persons at these parties.
(C) Problems associated with gatherings involving underage persons drinking alcohol are difficult to prevent and deter. Police need an arsenal of tools to deal with the issue of underage drinking and its attendant problems. If persons are held civilly responsible by having to pay a significant fine for hosting a party where there is underage drinking, they will be more likely to properly supervise or stop such conduct at events held on property under their possession or control.
(D) In the past and present, law enforcement, fire and other emergency response services personnel have and are required to respond, sometimes on multiple occasions, to these types of gatherings. The repeated return of police officers to the location of an event constitutes a drain of emergency personnel and resources, often leaving other areas of the city without police protection or with unreasonably limited protection. Responses to such gatherings also result in a disproportionate expenditure of public safety resources of the city, which are underwritten by general municipal taxes paid to the city by its taxpayers and residents.
(E) The service of alcohol to underage persons at loud and unruly gatherings and the consumption of alcohol by underage persons at loud or unruly gatherings has in the past and continues to pose a threat to the health and safety of all persons who reside in the city, is a drain on the city’s public safety resources and also causes significant disruption of city residents’ quiet enjoyment of their households, especially in the city’s residential neighborhoods. It is therefore the policy of the City Council that in responding to loud or unruly gatherings, the city Police Department shall strictly enforce any and all applicable local and state laws pertaining to the service of alcohol to underage persons, and the consumption of alcohol by underage persons, and with respect to underage persons in possession of alcohol, the Police Department shall establish a “no tolerance” protocol by which the Police Department contacts, or causes the underage person’s school to contact, the underage person’s parents or legal guardians whenever the underage person is found to be in possession of alcohol or narcotics or found to be intoxicated at a loud or unruly gathering. Where the underage person’s school has an internal student disciplinary office any such incident shall likewise be reported to that office.
(Ord. 12-06, passed 5-15-2012)