Work in Rural Communities, Law-Enforcement Training Honored

Liquor The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s Bureau of Alcohol Education has been honored for its work to reduce underage drinking in rural communities and improve the enforcement of underage drinking laws. The accolades came at a recent conference of the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice for Delinquency Prevention, or OJJDP.

“It’s very gratifying that the work of our Bureau of Alcohol Education is being recognized by our peers around the nation,” said Patrick J. “P.J.” Stapleton III, chairman of the Liquor Control Board. “Preventing underage and dangerous drinking is one of the most important missions of this agency, as it is a priority for families and communities across Pennsylvania.”

Leslie Coombe, director of the Liquor Control Board’s Bureau of Alcohol Education, accepted a Recognition Award that cited the bureau’s “outstanding contributions to the enforcement, prevention and evaluation of youth alcohol access issues in rural communities.”

The Recognition Award was based on the bureau’s use of a 2004 OJJDP grant in a four-year program to implement a comprehensive program to reduce underage drinking in four rural areas. The grant was centered on the university towns of Indiana, Honesdale, Lock Haven and Wellsboro. The bureau worked with educational and community leaders in those communities to find ways to reduce underage residents’ access to alcoholic beverages, and change the cultural and social norms that encouraged underage drinking and increase enforcement of existing laws.

At the conference, the Bureau of Alcohol Education also received an Honorable Mention as 2009 Law Enforcement Partner of the Year. This honor, presented by the OJJDP’s Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center, noted the bureau’s “outstanding contribution to the enforcement and prevention of youth access to alcohol and underage drinking.”

The Law Enforcement Honorable Mention reflects the work of the bureau’s training team, which, funded by a grant administered by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, facilitated law-enforcement training programs around the state. Trainers for the bureau worked with police professionals around the state, covering ways to recognize fraudulent documents, investigate alcohol sources for underage drinkers and practice strategies for controlled party dispersal.

Similar training programs are available to law-enforcement groups throughout Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.lcb.state.pa.us/edu.

###