Though working with a smaller staff, the APD Party Patrol will still in full force this summer.
APD reduced the Party Patrol’s number of officers from about 18 to 12 in October because of budget cuts.
Party Patrol is a division of APD that focuses on stopping underage drinking by giving presentations throughout the community and in schools, as well as responding to calls to APD about unruly parties.
Party Patrol reduced its numbers because the amount of grant money it receives decreased, said police Lt. Harold Medina, APD Party Patrol coordinator.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Bureau contributed $200,000 to the Party Patrol every year, but stopped in September 2008, said Mark Slimp, Traffic Safety Bureau spokesman.
“We help community projects get started,” Slimp said in an e-mail. “Normally in these situations the grants are for start-up money.”
Nadine Hamby, APD spokeswoman, said Party Patrol still gets some funding from the city, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department and the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
“We’ve started to not rely on outside funding as much,” Medina said. “Before, it was all done by overtime and grants.”
This isn’t the first time Party Patrol has struggled with funding, Hamby said. The division was shut down from late November to December.
“We ran out of money, basically,” she said.
Fifteen Minor in Possession citations were reported in November and December of 2009 while Party Patrol was inactive, compared to 48 reported in November and December of 2008 when it was active, according to Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court records.
Medina said Party Patrol doesn’t need more than two teams of officers because of a drastic decrease in underage drinking since the division’s formation in 2001. He said MIP citations decreased by 33 percent 2008 and nine percent in 2009.
Medina said Party Patrol will remain active in the community despite its brief break.
“There are so many kids that are shocked when they get a ticket,” he said. “We’re still in existence. We’re still out there.”
Hamby said officers and detectives from many departments of APD work Party Patrol to keep it afloat.
“There’s not a specific officer that has to work Party Patrol or a specific officer that can only work Party Patrol,” she said.
Student Kira Vanderkolk said she got an MIP citation at a party last spring.
“The cops showed up and people just started running,” she said. “They chased kids down — it was a very interesting experience. They gave us our MIPs and then let us go. I don’t know what that prevents.”
Student Victoria Lozano said she tries to stay away from large parties, so she hasn’t noticed if Party Patrol is active in the community.
“I haven’t heard about them lately, but when I was in high school they made a presentation that freaked a lot of us out,” she said.
Hamby said that the change in structure and funding hasn’t affected APD’s ability to crack down on underage drinking.
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“We have been able to continue still doing the same amount of service and the same expectations we had a couple years ago with less money,” she said. “It has not impacted the Party Patrol.”
Medina said that his division is usually on duty Friday and Saturday nights, but during the summer it will be out more often. He said that regardless of funding struggles, APD will maintain the Party Patrol division.
“There will always be a need for education in schools because new kids are coming in and old ones are leaving,” he said.
Hamby said that all parts of the state have been hit hard by the recession.
“We don’t ask the state, ‘0Hey, give us $100,000,’ and they just give us $100,000,” she said. “They give us whatever they feel that they can, and they have to also disperse it among other counties, other city agencies and across the state.”
Hamby said that since Party Patrol restarted in January, officers have been working hard to show the community that APD is still trying to stop underage drinking.
“If they see us aggressively attacking (a problem), then obviously it’s something that’s instilled,” she said. “But if people get lax and they don’t hear about it anymore, what’s the next thing you hear? It’s all these parties going on.”
