To this point, officers arriving on the scene of an underage drinking party in New Canaan generally gather information about violations—someone is hosting the party and providing alcohol, or somebody is in possession of alcohol—and issue a few infraction summonses or make a few arrests. The balance of kids at the party who have been drinking will leave the scene with no accountability. Under a new initiative that New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski is designing—with support and feedback from the state’s attorney of the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District—those kids’ names are recorded for possible participation in a “diversionary program.”
“The next step is I am writing to the parents saying, ‘Your child was at this party consuming alcohol, we can charge him or her with X,Y or Z—which is a fine and license suspension and has potential consequences on your insurance—or you can attend this diversionary program,’ ” Krolikowski said Wednesday during the regular monthly meeting of the Police Commission, held at NCPD headquarters. To be taught by volunteering psychiatrists trained in addition, the program would be attended by parents and children, and run through two 2-hour sessions—likely on a Saturday, the chief said—with a focus on drug and alcohol education. Those in charge of the program would “explain the consequences of early abuse of alcohol and drugs, and what that can lead to,” Krolikowski said.
