As school gets out, the weather gets drier and warmer and summer rolls in, its time for parents to think about their children and what they do at night. With nothing better to do, underage drinking can run rampant.

Recently, the Ballard News-Tribune acted as a passenger in a police car. Sgt. Todd Kibbee, who has worked in the North Precinct for over 20 years and knows it like the back of his hand, showed the Tribune all of the common places that officers find underage and illegal drinking. Soundview Playfield, Sunset Hill Park, Golden Gardens and private beaches are all places that kids will congregate to drink and, in their perspective, have a good time.

At Golden Gardens especially, people seem to either ignore or are unaware that no alcohol is allowed, be it wine, beer or liquor, Kibbee said.

“That's the biggest rule in Golden Gardens that gets violated by people. Hopefully by this point everyone knows ‘No Alcohol,’” he said.

Still, someone who is over 21 and drinking modestly is not as big of a concern as kids who don’t know better and who can get themselves in a precarious situation.

“Any kid from say 14 to 18 has the potential to be expected to drink alcohol, either at a friend's house or a party. Parents should be proactive about knowing where their kids are,” Kibbee said.

Kibbee described one incident where police officers found three children not yet in their teens standing by themselves as their friend was drinking with a group of children. They had been dropped off by the friend’s mom at his request.

For Kibbee, sometimes its just common sense.

“If you're a parent and a kid asks you to drop him off at a park in the dark -- why would you do that?” he said.

It’s especially important for parents to play a role because the North Precinct can't spend all of its manpower looking for rambunctious kids. The area is too big, the patrol team to little and there are often higher priorities on the list. While riding in the car, new cases popped up at a furious rate and its up to officers to perform triage on giving attention to the most important ones.

Still, officers do what they can, though, routinely checking in on the common spots to drink and responding to calls. Fortunately, Kibbee said peoples’ habits don’t tend to change. Throughout his time, he finds that kids are drinking where their parents drank.

“Sometimes it feels like a whack-a-mole, you go to the parks and just try to tamp it,” Kibbee said, adding that there is no “rhyme or reason” to it -- kids might decide to drink on a Monday night or a Friday night. When it’s the summer time and they have no obligation or responsibility, typical drinking times don’t register for them.

He said that when they do catch any groups of underage drinkers, officers are not likely to make many arrests. "They're like rats off a sinking ship," he said, referring to how they scatter and scram as fast as possible.

While having a few drinks might seem innocent enough to some people, even if underage, Kibbee said that it could result in dangerous situations. Most crimes such as robberies and assaults are alcohol-fueled. Worse yet, a person driving under the influence can get into a bad crash.

"No parent wants that knock on the door and I don't want to be the one knocking."

Thankfully, Kibbee said they haven't had a case of a fatal underage DUI in a few years. "Knock on wood it stays like that for quite a few years," he said.

For underage drinkers, blowing a .02 on the breathalyzer is considered a DUI. Given the general inexperience and lighter bodies of youth, it is important to take drinking and driving seriously.

Moreover, Kibbee said that for every DUI they assess, two or three more cases of DUI happen unmitigated, making the roads more dangerous.

While Kibbee and his patrol officers continue doing their job, stopping and preventing cases of underage drinking when they can, he asks that parents also step up and do their part. Be aware and be assertive.

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