Edmond Chief of Police Bob Ricks and Edmond city attorney Stephen Murdock were on campus Monday speaking to students about Edmond's Social Host ordinance.
Edmond was the first city in Oklahoma to pass a Social Host ordinance, Murdock said. It was passed to help reduce the occurrence of underage drinking and the resulting problems in Edmond.
"The number one choice of drug in young people … still is alcohol," Ricks said.
Under the ordinance, hosts of parties are held responsible for the actions of minors present on their property. During a party or gathering, a home or property owner must do everything possible to prevent the party from getting out of control and also must prevent minors from consuming alcohol and becoming intoxicated. Ricks and Murdock said steps to prevent such behavior include checking IDs.
In 2007, the number of arrests for violating the ordinance was 71. So far this year there have only been nine arrests.
"The vast majority of the arrests that we have made have been because we have gotten calls from the neighbors," Ricks said.
"Most of these cases are not parents that are being arrested. Most of these cases turn out to be people 20, 21 or 22, whose parents are perhaps out of town, or have their own apartment by this time, and they're throwing these parties," he said.
Murdock said anyone arrested for violating the Social Host ordinance will be taken and booked into jail, and all information collected there will be sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, where the information will be added to the offender's permanent record.
Penalties for the first offense include a $500 fine, court costs (which are approximately $544) and up to 60 days in jail, Murdock said. Probation is not an option for violators of the ordinance. They have the option of accepting the conviction or taking the case to jury trial.
He added that jail time would be seriously considered for any repeat offenders. At this time there have been no repeat offenders.
Murdock said a conviction on a person's permanent record could make it much harder for them to obtain employment in the future, as employers can check with the OSBI for a background check.
Since Edmond passed its Social Host ordinance, other cities across Oklahoma have followed suit. In addition, Oklahoma State Senator Debbe Leftwich (D- District 44) is working on legislation that would create a similar law for the state, Murdock said.
Edmond city officials decided to create the ordinance because of the high number of underage drinking incidents occurring at commercial, field and private parties in the Edmond area, Ricks said.
"We were having a significant problem with parties that were going on in different establishments."
He said the commercial parties became so popular that gang members from Oklahoma City were coming into Edmond to attend and seek out intoxicated underage girls.
"We ended up with one circumstance where we had to call in the Oklahoma County Sheriffs department because it turned into almost a complete riot because of the nature of what was going on," Ricks said.
He added that since the ordinance went into effect in January 2007, the commercial parties in Edmond have pretty much disappeared.
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