Proposed Law Aims To Crack Down On Davis Underage Drinkers

DAVIS (CBS13) — A proposed law targeting underage drinkers in Davis could be the strongest in the state.

The boost of booze busts would be for possession of alcohol, but not alcohol on underage drinkers but rather in them.

There's no denying that a college town such as Davis has its share of underage alcohol consumption. In fact in one UC Davis survey almost half of underage students say they drink. Now police are asking for a new weapon to crack down on the issue.

"What we want to do is deal with an issue we have community-wide, which is an atmosphere of excessive drinking," a Davis police spokesman said.

So now this - it's called the Minor Alcohol Preclusion Act - would allow Davis police to write tickets to anyone under 21 who they believe to have alcohol in their system. Currently they can only cite those with open containers.

"A lot of our issues are due to alcohol, a lot of our violent crime, a lot of our injuries," the Davis police spokesman said.

Statistics show 75 percent of alcohol-related crime in Davis involves a person between 18 and 20 years old.

Under the new proposal police say they would have to observe the person showing signs of impairment — and a voluntary breath test could prove the officers wrong.

The proposed crackdown is not sitting well with some of the younger crowd.

"It's kind of wrong in my opinion," one student said.

"If you're not bothering anybody, then you're on good terms," another said.

But other see the value of it.

"It probably wouldn't be a bad thing," one said.

"Ultimately, I think it's going to help," said another.

Violators would receive a ticket.