Sandy Wilson, North Dakota Department of Transportation, Office of Traffic Safety, and Perry Lauer, School Resource Officer for the Bismarck Police Department, attended the 6th Annual National Leadership Conference; “Law Enforcement & Communities: Sustaining Progress, Blazing New Trails” presented by the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center. The conference was held in Tucson, AZ August 18 – 20, 2005. Sandy and Perry had the opportunity to hear some new speakers and glean a few new ideas that could be useful to North Dakota programs and their implementation. They attended sessions pertaining to college programs, media advocacy, Native American issues, and enforcement issues.

Some of the sessions that stood out for Sandy were focused on youth getting more involved in the underage drinking effort. When back to school shopping started this fall, youth were finding items and clothing that advertised alcohol beverages and endorsed or promoted underage drinking. One San Diego organized group of students decided to do something about it. The youth went into department stores, tried the clothing on and took pictures of themselves with their cell phones. They then created a video of the photos and wrote a press release. Local TV and radio stations gave this effort a great deal of air time. The group was successful in persuading some stores in the community into voluntarily removing items that promoted underage drinking. Because of this success, other groups started utilizing youth to find these kinds of items. Once items are found, citizens, via list serve, are encouraged to contact those businesses and compel them to remove these items from their shelves and to write letters to the editor. Abercrombie and Fitch is one store that was persuaded into pulling their questionable items from their shelves.

One idea that Sandy thought had real merit, was that youth do not want their events named as “non-alcoholic” or “alternative”. One group found that those labels turned kids away because the events were then considered “un-cool”. This group now calls each event by its name; dance, bowling, etc., and doesn’t mention that it is “alcohol free”. They are noticing larger turnouts for the events that they sponsor. Another idea was to get students more involved. Students could help gather data and do some research for communities. They would also be present for any press and/or news releases that come as a result of their hard work.

The Native American session was enlightening for Sandy. The speaker, Caroline M. Cruz, of Oregon, spoke of the differences between the Native American culture and the non-Native American cultures and the steps to working together successfully. She also had some advice for coalitions. She asked the question, “How do you know if your coalition is strong enough to make a change?” The answer to that question came as a surprise. Ms. Cruz stated, “A coalition that will promote change should consist of at least 100 people.” When meetings are held, approximately 25 people will be able to attend at different times. The whole coalition will assist when it comes time to make changes. She encourages asking everyone to commit to being a part of the coalition and having them take ownership. They won’t necessarily need to attend all of the meetings, but they can spread the word and/or assist with the work.

Perry Lauer attended many sessions, but the one that stuck out for him by far, was “Broken Windows – The Surprising Benefits of Youth Access Enforcement”. The session discussed the research that shows how communities with high youth access enforcement rates have lower overall community crime rates than similar communities with low rates of youth access enforcement. These enforcements include tobacco, alcohol and curfew. The purpose of this class is to jump-start officers into increasing youth access enforcement when they can see the benefits of such enforcement. Perry was extremely impressed with this training and feels that it would greatly benefit many North Dakota agencies if they could attend it.

Perry, as the coordinator of the Bismarck Police Department compliance checks, attended two trainings relating to compliance checks. The Police Department in Bismarck conducts compliance checks in accordance with North Dakota State Law. The “Real” Kids Can Lie session was interesting, but Perry says that this method of conducting compliance checks will not be considered in Bismarck. With the “Real” Kids Can Lie method, minors are allowed to enhance their appearance, lie about their age and use fake ID’s. The process is realistic as far as what alcoholic beverage establishments deal with; however, if followed, would place law enforcement and retailers at odds with each other and would really draw fire from both retailers and the public.