SHREWSBURY, MA –  The Shrewsbury Police Department has received a grant award in the amount of $9241.33 to combat underage drinking. The grant is one of 38 awarded to local police departments throughout the state from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security ( EOPSS). $280,000 in grants funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and awarded on a competitive basis varied between $5,000. and $10,000. based on the size of the community.

According to the National Highway Safety Administration, 33% of 15-20 year olds were killed in crashes nationwide in 2009 had a blood alcohol content of .01 or higher. Additionally, young drivers tend to engage in other risky behaviors while drinking, such as speeding, distracted driving, running red lights, making illegal u-turns and not wearing seat belts. In 2009, 70% of the young drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes who had been drinking were not restrained.

The Shrewsbury Police Department will use the grant funding to increase enforcement of the laws dealing with underage drinking. Throughout the year officers will be deployed at various times and locations to conduct enforcement and prevention activities to combat this issue. Officers will be assigned to monitor establishments licensed to sell alcoholic beverages in an effort to deter both the purchase of alcohol by minors and the purchase of alcohol by adults for minors.

There are many tools to combat underage drinking and this grant provides the much needed funding to target the problem. The grants will fund a variety of activities such as surveillance, compliance checks in restaurants and retail locations and party patrols. Through a combination of techniques departments will be able to analyze and crack down on both minors who seek to circumvent the law and those people and establishments that allow them to.

The Shrewsbury Police Department, in partnership with EOPSS, recognizes that traffic crashes are preventable, and is committed to using this grant to reduce the number of motor-vehicle related fatalities and injuries in Shrewsbury Massachusetts.