Underage drinking at a party

[jtvang125]

So one of the neighbors upstairs from me had a party this weekend. Typical college type party with plenty of booze and people. There was definitely a few people there that were underage and drinking. I don't even think the person who had the party was 21, not that I care if any of them are or not.

If the police was called out to break up the party because it was too loud and noticed that a few people looked underage and had been drinking, what would they do? Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

 

[sash1]

at least here at Wake: cops just don't care. they'll give everyone a warning and let all the kids under 21 leave before they go in and start checking IDs and everything. sucks when parties get broken up, but typically only if you act like an idiot will a cop write you up for underage drinking/public intoxication/whatever

 

[DaShen]

Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

 

[Kalvin00]

Depends on how the cops are feeling.

Best case, they send everyone home and confiscate the alcohol.

Worst case, they cite all minors for MIP and charge person hosting with providing alcohol to minors, etc...

 

[Turin39789]

Depends on the town, near a college you're likely to get away with it. Though here, you have to show id and sign for any keg you buy in the county, and the keg is tagged with a serial number. If a party is busted with a keg they check the tag and go after the buyer. Returning a keg without a tag is a no no

 

[jtvang125]

Originally posted by: DaShen
Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

Why if he had no control over who came to the party? His friends invited their friends..ect.

 

[apac]

Unlikely unless the cops are in a really pissy mood.

 

[Drakkon]

at my college it was prettymuch "dont do it again" from the cops UNLESS some idiot decided to call the cops pigs or do something stupid like try and run off or get in a fight. then names would be taken...handcuffs used...etc for anyone caught holding a beer without id showing they could.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: DaShen
Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

Why if he had no control over who came to the party? His friends invited their friends..ect.

It's his property. He is responsible for anybody drinking inside.

This kind of stuff can get one into a lot of trouble.

-edit- at my school there were task forces from the BATF that would go around busting parties. It wasn't uncommon for a few parties to be busted and everybody under 21 arrested/taken to jail.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Depends on how the cops are feeling.

Best case, they send everyone home and confiscate the alcohol.

Worst case, they cite all minors for MIP and charge person hosting with providing alcohol to minors, etc...

Yep. In the case of one college party (where I stayed around for just a bit too long), the cops issued citations to all minors who blew 0.01+ on the breathalyzer and gave the one guy who was over 21 a citation for furnishing alcohol to minors (it wasn't even his apartment).

 

[SViper]

It really depends on the police. While I was at UNM, if I was at a house party with hundreds of people there (yes, hundreds), the police would just break up the party and tell everyone to go home. When I was at smaller house parties, the police would issue MIP's to the minors and contributing to a minor charge to the owner of the house.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Depends on how the cops are feeling.

Best case, they send everyone home and confiscate the alcohol.

Worst case, they cite all minors for MIP and charge person hosting with providing alcohol to minors, etc...

Yup. Depending on local laws, you could get a noise violation, cited for breaking fire codes, or possibly (but very unlikely) disturbing the peace. I think they would only pull those out shoud they be dick cops that can't find anything else to cite for.

Even in the worst case it would be a few hundred dollar fine and some community service.

The big deciding factor is how big and crazy the party is, how much of a pain in the ass people are when they show up, and the reason they had to come out. If a neighbor called in a noise complaint their obvious goal is to ensure the neighbor is satisfied so they don't have to come back out, but if they just see a party and want to check up on things they probably won't go looking for problems.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: DaShen
Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

Why if he had no control over who came to the party? His friends invited their friends..ect.

He has every control over who comes to the party. It's called "watching the door". It's their responsibility as the one throwing the party to ensure there are not minors being distributed alcohol. If it's your property, it's your responsibility to be in control of it. Something tells me people didn't show up, beat down the door and start partying while tying the person in charge of the place up and locking him in a closet. Do you think bars aren't responsible if a minor is drinking alcohol there?

 

[kami333]

Completely depends on the moods of the cops, anywhere from "hey what's up, turn it down a little" (my friend knew most of the cops in town) to a ticket for noise to being arrested for providing alcohol to minors.

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: DaShen
Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

Why if he had no control over who came to the party? His friends invited their friends..ect.

It's his property. He is responsible for anybody drinking inside.

This kind of stuff can get one into a lot of trouble.

Problem is, if the owner doesn't let the cops in they usually can't just barge in on a noise complaint. And if they do force their way in to bust up the party they won't really be able to use anything they would find.
I've been underage drinking at a party that got busted twice. Once i was hosting once i wasn't. both times the officers just barged in as soon as the door was opened. When it was my place i had a huge bong and large tray of weed, beer cans all over and about 20 people all under age. They just said keep it down otherwise they'd come back and arrest people.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

They usually just break up a party.

Heck, the owner of the apartment was underage and she was tellin the cops it was her bday party and what not. I've been at 4 or 5 broken up parties and each time they just tell us to leave. Not everyone leaves. Usually a good 10 - 15 stay after to take care of the messed up people or to help clean up, and we keep it down low enough that it's not an issue. There was once they just kept partying with 15 people or so, and the cops came in again after about an hr and yelled and said that if everyone didnt leave this time they were gonna start checking IDs and they said that they knew at least a few people were under 21.

The last party I was at, they started snapping photos (frat party) but if you think about it a little, it's probably nothing (heck I didnt even drink that night) and you can't do jack with the photos...

Never has a noise complaint turned into a citation yet for me....

 

[SViper]

Originally posted by: mordantmonkey

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: jtvang125

Originally posted by: DaShen
Would all the offending minors be charged as well as the person throwing the party regardless if he was really 21 or over?

Quite possibly. Especially if the one holding the party is over 21.

Why if he had no control over who came to the party? His friends invited their friends..ect.

It's his property. He is responsible for anybody drinking inside.

This kind of stuff can get one into a lot of trouble.

Problem is, if the owner doesn't let the cops in they usually can't just barge in on a noise complaint. And if they do force their way in to bust up the party they won't really be able to use anything they would find.
I've been underage drinking at a party that got busted twice. Once i was hosting once i wasn't. both times the officers just barged in as soon as the door was opened. When it was my place i had a huge bong and large tray of weed, beer cans all over and about 20 people all under age. They just said keep it down otherwise they'd come back and arrest people.

QFT. Police can't barge into your house unless there is a warrant involved or the "plain sight law" takes effect, meaning if they see some crime being committed in plain sight (like a bong), they can enter.

Of course, if you aren't an attentive host, the police can enter if one of the guests open the door for them to come in.