Party Intervention Patrol Nabs Orting Youth

Two teams of Pierce County Party Intervention Patrol officers broke up three underage drinking parties last Friday and Saturday nights in Orting, resulting in the arrests of 26 youth ages 15-20.

One of the arrested youths was a 19-year-old female who had three prior DUIs and an interlock device on her car. Officers also arrested two youths for DUI and found two intoxicated girls, ages 15 and 16, at one of the parties attended by a number of older males.

After obtaining warrants to search two homes and a car delivering kids to one of the parties, five additional adults - three of them homeowners - were arrested and taken to jail for allowing their homes to be used for the parties and supplying some of the alcohol.

Those transported to Pierce County Jail following their arrests included a father of two in the 20500 block of 182nd Street E and a man and wife in the 200 block of Williams Boulevard in Orting. All told police they were sleeping during the parties but had either invited the underage guests or permitted their homes to be used for the parties.

Police were alerted to a fourth underage party on Saturday night on Patterson Road in Orting when a telephone company employee, summoned to investigate a downed phone line, almost slammed into an underage male driver who was stopped in the middle of the road, slumped and unconscious behind the wheel, his keys still in the ignition.  The youth is believed to have been attempting to leave a nearby drinking party. East Pierce County Fire and Rescue resuscitated the youth with reported difficulty. By the time Party Intervention Patrol officers arrived at the scene to bust up the party, the party-goers, who had witnessed the emergency vehicles attempt to rescue the youth, had left.

The officers, working with volunteers and professionals, took the underage lawbreakers to community centers in Puyallup and Orting. The youths received interventions from professionals who assessed their level of alcohol and drug involvement and their need for possible follow-up resources, including treatment. Three college freshmen, currently paying for college through loans, became distraught when they learned that their arrests could, under federal law, prohibit them from receiving future school grants, loans or work study. One 19-year-old headed for Marine Corps boot camp in two weeks worried about the consequences his Minor In Possession arrest might have on his future military career. Most of the youth were aware that in Washington an MIP is punishable by a fine up to $5,000, a year in jail and the loss of their driver's license for a year.

Parents, called by police to pick up their children as late as 5:30 a.m., were greeted by trained parent volunteers who helped them plan their next steps. Not wanting to disappoint their parents is the primary reason kids don't drink, say experts. And most kids don't drink, said Heather Hogan of the Coalition for a Drug and Alcohol Free Orting.

"Reliable surveys prove that's the case for kids in Orting and elsewhere in the county,” Hogan said. “While everyone was getting busted last weekend, lots of kids were having fun without booze, pot or prescription drugs stolen from their parents' medicine cabinet."

Nearly two dozen Party Intervention Patrols involving parent volunteers and more than 13 law enforcement and community agencies are planned for this year. Last weekend's patrols were funded by the state Department of Social and Health Services, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission and a Drug Free Communities grant administered through the Puget Sound Educational  Services District. Participants included the Coalition for a Drug and Alcohol Free Orting, Pierce County Human Services and the Sumner, Puyallup, Fife and Orting police departments along with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.