News by the Numbers: Underage Drinking

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Story Published: Jul 6, 2009 at 5:52 PM PST

By Molly Kelleher

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TRI-CITIES — Underage drinking is one of those problems that police are constantly struggling with. Action News pulled the numbers to find out which local county is tops for minors drinking.

It’s that time of year, school is out and that can mean teens getting into trouble.

“There’s probably a party going on right now,” said 17-year-old Cody Moon.

Kids will be pretty candid, they told us “yeah there’s drinking and yeah it’s easy to get your hands on booze.”

“If you see someone over 21 just give them money. It’s that easy,” Moon said.

Just look at how easy it was for hundreds of your kids. Action News asked the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) for the latest liquor law violations statistics.

They are from May of 2008 to May of this year.

Yakima County had the most. For kids under 18 there were 245 liquor violations. For adults age 19 to 20 there were 378.

Benton County came in second with 236 for under 18 and 382 for 18 to 20 years old.

It was a much lower number in Franklin County, 71 for under 18 and 81 for 18-20.

College town Walla Walla was the lowest of the four counties we pulled.

There were fewer DUIs, but again Yakima gets the top spot followed by Benton County.

If you look even closer at the age breakdown, the youngest in our area was even a 13- or 14-year-old girl busted for a DUI in Yakima.

“We’re seeing a bigger trend in adults purchasing it for their kids, also fake IDs and fraudulent IDs are even easier to make,” said Richland Police Captain, Mike Cobb.

Action News called up a few police departments and they all said they put on education programs in schools but admit their officers still see these kinds of things on a daily basis.

And we’re not stopping there. Action News is pulling the numbers to find out what businesses are selling your kids alcohol. We’re naming names Tuesday night on Action News at 5 and 6.

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