AUGUSTA – The state Office of Substance Abuse has announced the award of grants to 15 law enforcement agencies across the state to target underage drinking.

The two-year grants, which range from $5,000 to $9,500 annually, will help recipients coordinate efforts across their respective service areas to enforce existing underage drinking laws.

The funding is provided by the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Grant from the Office of Juvenile Delinquency Program.

Law enforcement agencies play a critical role in reducing underage drinking in Maine, according to Guy Cousins, acting director of the Office of Substance Abuse.

“This is a community problem and it takes an entire community working together to solve it,” Cousins said.

“Research shows that alcohol kills more children than all illegal drugs combined. Many adolescents drink alcohol that was purchased by their parents, and many do so without their parents’ knowledge,” he said.

The project involves underage drinking party patrols, collaboration among agencies for special call-out teams to handle large parties and surveillance. It also focuses on helping law enforcement agencies investigate and prosecute those who provide alcohol or a place for minors to consume alcohol, as well as notifying parents or guardians of juveniles who are using alcohol.

The program also aims to build community relationships that will remain in place long after the grant expires.

Grant recipients in the Bangor Daily News coverage area are Caribou Police Department, $15,000; Greenville Police Department, $14,000; Hampden Police Department, $14,000; Lincoln Police Department, $10,000; Millinocket Police Department, $8,836; Rockland Police Department, $13,935; and Searsport Police Department, $9,605.

In addition, five grants were awarded to law enforcement agencies that participated in the project in previous years and will mentor the new grantees as they develop skills to carry out underage drinking enforcement strategies.

Receiving mentor grants are the sheriff’s departments from Knox, Penobscot and Piscataquis counties as well as the Westbrook and York police departments.

The mentors will share information about implementing the strategies and lessons learned from their experiences along with continuing to initiate strategies to enforce underage drinking laws in their own service areas.