Underage Drinking Targeted By Shore Towns Via Cops In Shops Initiative

Police in more than 30 Jersey Shore towns are using undercover officers to crack down on underage drinking this summer, according to a report.

The towns received federal grants to take part in the Cops in Shops initiative, which looks for those attempting to buy alcohol underage and also targets legal-age individuals who are willing to purchase alcohol for the underage crowd, according to the report on WOBM.com.

WOBM reported the following towns are participating:

MONMOUTH COUNTY

• Asbury Park
• Atlantic Highlands
• Belmar
• Lake Como
• Neptune Township
• Red Bank
• Ocean Township
• Union Beach

OCEAN COUNTY

• Barnegat Township
• Beach Haven
• Berkeley Township
• Brick Township
• Harvey Cedars
• Jackson Township
• Lakehurst
• Lakewood
• Manchester Township
• Ocean Township (Waretown) (Ocean County)
• Point Pleasant Beach
• Point Pleasant Borough
• Ship Bottom

ATLANTIC COUNTY

• Atlantic City
• Egg Harbor Township
• Galloway Township
• Northfield

CAPE MAY COUNTY

• Avalon
• Cape May
• Lower Township
• Middle Township
• North Wildwood
• Sea Isle City
• Wildwood

Grants this year from the Division of Highway Traffic Safety range from $1,200 to $6,200, for a total of $81,000, to fund the undercover operations, according to WOBM. Last year's effort resulted in more than 200 arrests.

Read more here.

Liquor store, by Razvan Orendovici via Flickr under Creative Commons license