06/05/2014 — Folsom Police Officers conducted a program called a Decoy Shoulder Tap Operation on June 3, 2014. This operation can lead to the arrest of adults who purchase alcohol for people under 21 years old. Under the program, a minor under the direct supervision of a peace officer will stand outside a liquor or convenience store and ask patrons to buy them alcohol. The minor indicates in some way he or she is underage and cannot purchase the alcohol.

If the adults purchase alcohol for the minor, officers then arrest and cite them for furnishing alcohol to the minor. The penalty for furnishing alcohol to a minor is a minimum $1000 fine and 24 hours of community service. The operation resulted in two arrests, Harrison Anderson (24) and James Ligon (53).

The program is intended to reduce the availability of alcohol to minors. According to the American Medical Association, underage drinking can increase chances of risky sexual behavior and teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, compromise health, and result in unintentional injury and death.

Folsom Police Department’s involvement in this operation was funded by a unique community partnership, the Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF-SIG). The SPF-SIG is a state-funded grant to reduce excessive drinking among 12- to 25-year-olds by focusing on environmental-level strategies. Twelve communities, including the city of Folsom, were selected to be part of the SPF-SIG project in California. SPF-SIG grant activities and projects will be conducted over the next three years through a partnership of the County of Sacramento, Department of Behavioral Health Services, the Sacramento County Office of Education, the Folsom Police Department, the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, and People Reaching Out.

Minor Decoy operations are one strategy in a comprehensive effort to reduce minor access to and consumption of alcohol. Folsom Police officers will also be conducting “Party Patrols”, seeking out large gatherings where minors are consuming alcohol in both homes and public areas such as parks and remote parking lots and conducting undercover operations in area bars and restaurants where alcoholic beverages are served

DUI Task Force Campaign Final Update. 113 DUI arrests reported for Memorial Day Holiday DUI crackdown

The Memorial Day Weekend Avoid the 17– DUI Campaign has concluded with the deployment of one Sobriety Checkpoint, 10 special DUI Saturation Patrols and officers on routine patrol focusing special attention towards the impaired driver working to lower deaths/injuries on our streets and highways. An additional Sobriety Checkpoint was conducted in addition to the Avoid the 17 planned activities.

From 12:01 AM Friday, May 23, 2014 through Midnight Monday, May 26, 2014 officers representing 17 county law enforcement agencies made 113 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In 2013, 104 DUI arrests occurred during the Memorial Day holiday weekend. No DUI related deaths have been reported this year. Last year there were no DUI deaths reported.
(**NOTE: These numbers are only provisional with many agencies yet to report**)

These numbers are in comparison to last years’ totals during the same 4 days of the Memorial Day weekend 2013. Law enforcement officials will be conducting more Anti-DUI crackdowns throughout the county and region during the Independence Day holiday period and the 18 day campaign in August ending Labor Day weekend.
Police, Sheriff and the CHP encourage all motorists to watch and report impaired drivers each and every trip around town or during summer vacations: Report Drunk Drivers – Call 9-1-1! anytime you encounter that dangerous driver. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Avoid programs, named for the number of police agencies in each county, will be conducting other enforcement efforts during special events with identified DUI problems. In recognition that the summer season is among the deadliest time of the year, law enforcement agencies throughout the county will be making every effort to arrest drunk drivers before another life is lost.

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