by Bobby Little and Mike Bishop

About the authors: Bobby Little and Mike Bishop are contributors to FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, in which the following viewpoint was originally published.

Several sophisticated criminological research projects have confirmed empirically something that law enforcement practitioners have known for a long time: many officers simply do not make teenage alcohol use an enforcement priority. One study surveyed a sample of police personnel and found that many officers rate this type of enforcement activity among the lowest of police responsibilities. A second study revealed that some of the reasons police offered for assigning a low priority to this type of crime included perceived legal obstacles associated with processing juveniles and the unpleasant paperwork and special detention procedures required for minors. Officers also cited such reasons as a lack of juvenile...