OVERLAND PARK, KS (KCTV) -
In March, the Overland Park Police Department got nearly $20,000 to curb underage drinking and now they're seeing how they did with the funds.
Overland Park Police tell us there were more arrests made this year than last but, to them, that's not a good thing.
"Teen Angel is our underage drinking enforcement," Sgt. Eric Houston said.
Every year, a group of Overland Park police officers target a specific group of people - anyone under the age of 21.
"The time of year that we are out there in force is the spring time. We want to cover Spring Break, proms and graduations," Houston said.
From house parties to pool parties to taverns and bars, police send officers out in plain clothes and unmarked cars, looking for anyone drinking underage or anyone over 21 supplying liquor to minors.
Every year, they hope their efforts yield no results.
"Our goal would be to be out there and aggressively looking for violations, but we're not finding them because they are not there," Houston said.
Unfortunately that's not the case. In almost every category this year, the numbers went up. There were 22 more total arrests in 2012, bringing the number of total arrests for minor in possession or minor in consumption of alcohol, drug possession and DUI to 105.
There were nine more arrests this year, over last year, for minors in possession or consumption of alcohol and there were eight more arrests for possession of drugs, almost doubling last year's number of 10. This year, there were two arrested for DUI while last year that number was zero.
While the numbers don't make police happy, they are looking towards the positives.
"We didn't have any serious accidents involving underage drinking or any type of serious incidents involving injuries with an underage drinker," Houston said.
Three adults were also arrested for furnishing alcohol to minors and even though the program is finished, police said they will continue the efforts through the summer.
Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
