The Cape Girardeau Police Department is cracking down on underage drinking.
Police are conducting bar walkthroughs, fake ID checks and alcohol vendor compliance checks. They are also enforcing a nuisance law ordinance.
Officer Richard Couch says police are also enforcing a nuisance party ordinance. There have been 17 citations since last September.
“It’s not a big issue from the standpoint of it doesn’t happen every weekend, but it is a quality of life issue that we want to definitely improve upon,” Couch said.
Couch says police look for upcoming parties through Facebook and Twitter.
“As social media evolves, we are always mindful of that, as well as the university passing us on information,” Couch said. “If they hear of anything, university police and the Cape Girardeau police work quite closely on issues such as this and we’ll compare notes and decide where we need to be to address those situations. ”
Police conduct alcohol compliance checks quarterly. An 18 or 19 year old will try to buy alcohol, and if the vendor does not ask for ID they will be cited. Officer Couch says they will typically conduct about 30 to 40 compliance checks per quarter, and an average of five to seven will not ask for identification.
