Where Are We Now?
Implementing Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances: Where Are We Now? February, 2011 Youth Leadership Institute
Executive Summary Starting in October 2006, and continuing over the following three years, a total of twelve Social Accountability Ordinances (SHAOs) were passed or amended in Marin County, California. These policy changes came as part of a coordinated effort under the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Strategic Plan to reduce youth access to alcohol in social settings. The first new ordinance was passed in 2006 by the Marin County Board of Supervisors and covered unincorporated Marin County. During the following three years, all of Marin s cities and towns used the County ordinance as a model to pass their own ordinances or amend existing ordinances. Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Fairfax, Novato, Ross, and San Anselmo amended existing ordinances. Belvedere, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and San Rafael adopted new SHAOs. The adoption of these new and amended policies is a great accomplishment. However, policies are only effective when they are enforced and monitored. Young people from the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) were integral to the passage of these policies, and wanted to learn if the ordinances they had championed were being enforced. Even more importantly, they wanted to find out if the ordinances were impacting underage and binge drinking in Marin County. In Spring 2010, YLI youth worked with consulting evaluator M. K. Associates to conduct interviews and collect data from local law enforcement agencies. Their objective was to assess whether the new ordinances were being enforced and to gauge the impact of the ordinances on underage drinking parties in Marin. The following recommendations are the result of the interviews conducted with law enforcement officials and the data collected by Youth Leadership Institute and M.K. Associates: Provide regular and on-going training for law enforcement officials Large party dispersal training should be made available to law enforcement officials on a regular basis in order to increase utilization of the ordinance where appropriate. Additional trainings identified by officers to enforce social host accountability ordinances should be provided regularly. Increase the perception of risk for violation of the Social Accountability Ordinance Improve education of young people regarding the consequences of underage drinking and the SHAO regarding 16 vs. 18 year olds, as many youth are unaware of the differences in possible punishment. Publish the number of SHAO citations given in each jurisdiction in the Marin Independent Journal or similar publications to increase public s perception of risk regarding violation of the SHAO. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 1 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
Actively enforce the Social Accountability Ordinances throughout the county For jurisdiction that have never cited but given multiple warnings- it is suggested that the policy for issuing citations be reviewed and citations instead of warnings be issued when appropriate. All police chiefs should meet collectively to review their jurisdictions policy regarding the SHAO and make sure all jurisdictions are on the same page regarding enforcenent Introduction Starting in October 2006, and continuing over the following three years, a total of twelve Social Accountability Ordinances (SHAOs) were passed or amended in Marin County, California. These policy changes came as part of a coordinated effort under the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Strategic Plan to reduce youth access to alcohol in social settings. The first ordinance was passed in 2006 by the Marin County Board of Supervisors and covered unincorporated Marin County. During the following three years, all of Marin s cities and towns used the County ordinance as a model to pass their own ordinances or amend existing ordinances. Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Fairfax, Novato, Ross, and San Anselmo amended existing ordinances. Belvedere, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and San Rafael adopted new SHAOs. The adoption of these new and amended policies is a great accomplishment. However, policies are only effective when they are enforced and monitored. Young people from the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) were integral to the passage of these policies, and wanted to learn if the ordinances they had championed were being enforced. Even more importantly, they wanted to find out if the ordinances were impacting underage and binge drinking in Marin County. In Spring 2010, YLI youth worked with consulting evaluator M. K. Associates to conduct interviews and collect data from local law enforcement agencies. Their objective was to assess whether the new ordinances were being enforced and to gauge the impact of the ordinances on underage drinking parties in Marin. A Brief History 2 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute Taking a Strategic Approach Beginning in 2003, a group of over 30 individuals and organizations came together under the leadership of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services and the Division of Alcohol, Drug and Tobacco Programs to create a strategic plan to prevent and reduce alcohol and other drug use in Marin County. The main focus of the plan was to transition alcohol and other drug prevention efforts from an individual-focused approach to a community-focused approach, using evidence based environmental prevention strategies. Key to implementing these strategies was the formation of the Marin Alcohol and Other
Drug Prevention Collaborative, the inclusion of youth leaders at the forefront of prevention work, and the passage of community-based polices that address alcohol and other drug access in social and retail settings. The Strategic Plan for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention launched in July 2004 and concluded six years later in June 2010. Targeting binge drinking In 2004, Marin County successfully received financial support from the State Incentive Grant (SIG) funding stream in California. The focus of this funding in California, was to reduce binge drinking through the implementation of environmental strategies at the community level. Utilizing these new funds, an extensive needs assessment was conducted for Marin County in 2004. This data indicated that Marin County youth were consuming alcohol and binge drinking at higher rates than state and national averages. It also indicated that Marin youth were suffering consequences from their drinking, e.g. alcohol-related crashes, sexual assaults, etc. Additionally, the report documented that house parties were the nexus for the excessive consumption of alcohol and the setting for a majority of the related health and safety consequences. Responding to tragedy In 2005, two events took place that had a powerful impact on youth, the public, and local policy makers. These events provided an urgency to address the problems of underage and binge drinking in Marin. In the Fall of 2005, two young men, ages 18 and 19, were tragically killed and two others injured in a car crash following an underage drinking party in an unincorporated area near Novato, CA. In the spring of the same year, a San Rafael High School senior was sexually assaulted by three classmates at an underage drinking house party. The assault occurred at a teen party where alcohol was in abundance and parents were not in attendance. As a response to these tragic and preventable events, Supervisor Susan Adams of the Marin County Board of Supervisors and Dr. Larry Meredith, Director of the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services reached out and engaged chief elected officials and law enforcement leadership from each of Marin s eleven municipalities. They convened a training on effective community level policy approaches that would tackle underage and binge drinking at the source (house parties) and hold accountable the parents and other adults that were hosting these parties. The training was facilitated by community experts in environmental prevention and public policy, which detailed the many options that communities have under land use and other powers to reduce the number of settings where young people obtain alcohol and other drugs. The County of Marin agreed to research, pass, and enforce a policy that would serve as a model for local municipalities. The Department of Health and Human Services and county counsel consulted with experts from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in California and Washington D.C. as well as with Ventura County to identify model policy elements, penalties and enforcement needs. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 3 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
Utilizing community data and feedback Young adults from the Youth Leadership Institute, after reviewing data from the California Healthy Kids Survey, decided to implement an additional survey tool the Youth Access Survey. This additional research assisted in determining the retail and social sources of alcohol for youth in Marin County. Data from the survey confirmed that Marin youth were often accessing alcohol at teen parties, many of which were hosted by adults. Additional findings from this research: Marin youth have easy access to alcohol from friends, family and other adults. 77% of teens surveyed in 2005 reported getting alcohol from their friends and 14% reported accessing it from family members 42.4% of parents surveyed in 2005 believed that youth get their alcohol from their parents and nearly half said they know parents who provide alcohol to their underage children on the stipulation that they don t leave the house Responses from the Place of Last Drink Survey in 2005 revealed that 64% of 18-20 year olds reported their place of last drink before their DUI arrest was in a private residence. Existing policies to address underage drinking were only sometimes if ever enforced. O Rorke Inc., the media contractor under the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Strategic Plan, conducted a series of focus groups with parents of middle and high school students to obtain parent perspectives on underage/binge drinking and house parties. Many parents in the focus groups stated they felt that underage drinking was inevitable and even acceptable. Other parents were concerned that adults were allowing alcohol to be consumed by underage youth at parties. The majority of the parents expressed a sense of helplessness. They felt that not enough was being done by communities, and that there were no advocacy efforts to address these concerns. Assessing the policy landscape At the inception of the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Strategic Plan, only three municipalities in the County had ordinances or laws in place to address young people accessing alcohol in retail or social settings. The City of Novato had an ordinance requiring a conditional use permit for any establishment applying to sell and serve alcohol. Three jurisdictions (the City of Novato, and the Towns of Tiburon and San Anselmo) had ordinances addressing alcohol and other drug consumption at house parties. Prior to the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Strategic Plan, these ordinances were not being routinely and consistently enforced or used as a preventative tool to reduce underage and binge drinking. 4 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute
Why A Social Accountability Ordinance? The lack of routine and consistent enforcement of existing laws and polices are a few of the main issues. Additionally, the majority of Marin jurisdictions have no policies to hold adults accountable for hosting and allowing parties to be held in their homes. These both were sending the wrong message to parents and teens alike. A review of existing evidence-based practices nationwide for environmental prevention suggested that the implementation, enforcement, and monitoring of a SHAO would contribute to reductions in underage/binge drinking and reduce social sources of alcohol for young people. Accordingly, passing a SHAO was selected as the most direct way to address the problem of teen drinking at house parties. A SHAO would discourage parents and other adults from hosting underage drinking parties. It would also address the commonly held belief that underage/binge drinking is inevitable or simply a rite of passage and that it is, therefore, acceptable to give alcohol to underage youth. A SHAO works as a nuisance abatement strategy, deterring underage drinking parties by imposing a civil fine on the person responsible for loud or unruly gatherings where alcohol is consumed by, served to or in the possession of underage persons. Under a SHAO, the property owner, renter, or leaser, or the party organizer, is held responsible for the event. When a juvenile is the party host, the juvenile, and the parents or guardians of that juvenile, are jointly and severally liable for fines imposed and costs incurred for public safety services. A SHAO sends a clear message to adults that providing alcohol to underage teens is not acceptable. Marin County s Model Ordinance The first SHAO under the Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Strategic Plan was passed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors in 2006. Under the County ordinance, violations are considered civil violations and result in a fine of $750 for the first offense, $1,500 for the second offense and $2,500 for the third offense. The responsible party for second and subsequent violations is also liable for the cost of providing public safety services, including fire, ambulance, sheriff and other emergency services, unless those present at the gathering call for an actual emergency at the premise. The County SHAO served as a model for a number of other municipalities in Marin County, who adopted similar civil ordinances. Novato and Tiburon chose to pass ordinances holding hosts criminally liable. Larkspur, Sausalito, and San Rafael passed SHAOs that included both civil and criminal penalties. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 5 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
6 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute Image 1: Diagram of Social Accountability Ordinances by municipality and year of passage.
Data Collection Procedures To best use resources under both Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment block grant and Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities funds, YLI engaged young people from a variety of sources including partnering with youth from Be the Influence (BTI), a project to reduce binge drinking in the Tamalapais Union High School District. The BTI Youth Advisory group is comprised of eleven youth representing all the school sites in the Tamalpais High School District who meet monthly to address binge drinking in their school district. YLI coordinates BTI through funding from County of Marin Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment Division. In March 2010, YLI collaborated with consulting evaluators M.K Associates to develop data collection strategies, protocols and resources for both qualitative and quantitative SHAO data from all Marin County jurisdictions. The data collection tools developed included: Interview questions for law enforcement and/or municipal officials Guidelines for conducting interviews with and/or municipal officials SHAO data template (adapted from the Marin County Sheriff s Department) Police chiefs from each Marin jurisdiction were contacted through email and phone to participate in interviews. In March and April 2010, face-to-face interviews with local Police chiefs or their designees were conducted by BTI youth and M. K. Associates staff. In addition, young people also collected data on existing SHAO citations from each jurisdiction in Marin County. In total, interviews and other data were collected from five cities: Novato, San Rafael, Mill Valley, Corte Madera, and Larkspur. Results and Analysis The SHAOs in Marin County and its municipalities have been enforced a total of 60 times since passage of the Marin County Social and Accountability Ordinance in 2006. Citations have been issued 10 times by the County Sheriff s Deparment, twice by the Mill Valley Police Department, three times by the San Rafael Police, and five times by the Novato Police Department. The Twin Cities (Larkspur and Corte Madera) Police Department have answered more than 20 police calls related to unsupervised juvenile parties but issued warnings rather than citations. The towns of San Anselmo, Sausalito, Tiburon, Belvedere, Ross, and Fairfax did not track calls or issue any citations since the passage of their ordinances. All of the responding jurisdictions in Marin reported a decrease in juvenile parties, and 4 out 5 attributed the change to passage of the SHAO. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 7 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
Image 2: Map of Social Accountability Ordinance Enforcement Social Ordinance Eastshore Citations Per Year, 2006-2009 101 580 Marshall Petaluma Rd Hicks Valley Rd State Highway 1 San Marin Dr N ovato Blvd Redwood Blvd 7th St Wilson Ave Sir Francis Drake Blvd State Highway 37 N icasio Valley Rd Point Reyes Petaluma Rd Inverness Pt. Reyes Station Nicasio Novato Bel Marin Keys Olema Lucas Valley Rd Lucas Valley Marinwood Forest Knolls Lagunitas San Pedro Rd Manuel T Freitas Pky Woodacre lvd Center B Bolinas Rd Legend Irwin St D St Social Ordinance Citations Per Year Fairfax San Anselmo Ross San Rafael Francisco Blvd Andersen Dr Fairfax Bolinas Rd Doherty Dr Tamalpais Dr Shoreline Hwy ise Dr P ara d Ridgec r e st Blv d Bolinas P an Toll Rd Stinson Beach Mill Valley Larkspur Corte Madera Tiburon Panor amic H w y Tiburon Blvd Marin City Sausalito Belvedere 2006 2007 2008 2009 Social Ordinance Citations by Year Jurisdition 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total Unicorporated Area (County) 2 12 11 6 31 Novato 2 10 6 4 22 San Rafael 0 0 1 2 3 Mill Valley 0 0 2 3 5 Total 4 22 20 15 61 Incorporated City With No Citations Bridgeway Blvd Incorporated City With Citations Muir Beach Unincorporated County With Citations 0 1 2 4 6 8 Miles Source: County and City Municipal Codes 8 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute
Information Obtained From Interviews What do underage drinking parties look like? Below is a basic description of a typical underage drinking party situation where police are called and a SHAO citation or a warning is issued: Most parties usually take place on weekends, breaks from school and in periods of nice weather Approximately 50-100 young people are present on average. Some parties are larger, some smaller. Police are generally first notified by a call from a neighbor complaining about noise. If young people are outside when police arrive, the young people generally flee the scene. Police always try to find the host or person responsible and where the alcohol was obtained. Generally, parents of underage hosts (under the age of 18) are not at home at the time of the party. Law enforcement s first priority is the safety of everyone present, so they don t chase young people unless the young person bolts during questioning Some parties are contained inside the house and police have to ask for entry unless something obviously illegal is going on. Other times there are lots of teenagers drinking or intoxicated outside in the street when the police approach. Usually two officers go to a scene, more if they are available. If it is a large party, the police ask for mutual aid assistance from nearby departments or the Sheriffs office. Whether or not a citation is given is up to the supervising officer. Generally, a citation is more likely to be issued if there is danger involved. A neighbor can put the host under citizen s arrest for disturbing their peace. The ordinance is harder to enforce in neighborhoods with hilly terrain, narrow streets, or many parked cars. It makes approaching the party difficult for police and eliminates the element of surprise. In these instances often the lights are out and no one answers the door by the time the police arrive. What happens to the young people when the police arrive? There is a set of major consequences if young partiers are drinking and driving (In addition to standard DUI penalties, drivers under 21 face immediate license revocation under California s Zero Tolerance law). Social Accountability Incident Snapshots: Deputies broke up a teen graduation party. They reported well over 100 teens present. Empty beer cans were strewn all over the yard and inside the house. They also found a 17-year old girl passed out on a lawn chair. After seeing the girl was not breathing and had no pulse, deputies performed CPR and revived her. She was taken to the hospital. - Unincorporated West Marin, June 2007 A San Anselmo New Year s Eve party drew more than 200 people, many of them were teens who were drinking. A 19-year old hosted the party at her parents home. She told deputies that she had tried to break up the party but was unable to. One deputy found an 18 year old who needed transport to the hospital and was treated for alcohol poisoning. - December 2007 If a juvenile (under 18) is found to be intoxicated, their parent or another responsible adult is called. The police have to keep them until someone shows up due to liability and safety concerns. Some departments try to have the parents come to the party site to pick their youth up so they can see the situation their child was in. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 9 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
Youth who are 18 may or may not have their parents called and can go to jail if they are intoxicated. In some jurisdictions, officers generally don t cite minors for open containers, cigarettes, etc. When enforcing the SHAO, officers make everyone s safe return home their main priority. Parents or legal guardians of the underage host are immediately called and notified of the situation. Eighteen year old hosts can get in more trouble than their younger counterparts, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor. If youth are sober, they are sometimes asked to drive intoxicated youth home. What is happening in cities/towns that haven t used the ordinance?. Multiple departments said there had been a minimum of one underage drinking party but they didn t find out about it until the next day when the parents who had been away got home and realized they had been robbed and reported it to police. It later came out there had been a party at the house with lots of alcohol and teenagers in the parents absence. At that point it was too late to charge them with a SHAO citation. One department (Sausalito) said there are very few teenagers in Sausalito and therefore few underage drinking parties. Some departments said they have issued warnings at the parties and that has taken care of the problem, so they haven t actually cited anyone. Some departments said they haven t issued citations because they haven t gotten calls about juvenile parties- people don t complain about their neighbors much as they have a live and let live attitude. This particular town (Fairfax) reports more problems from adult drinking. What do law enforcement personnel feel have been the impacts of the SHAO? It s not unusual for parents to call us now and tell us they are going out of town and haven t sanctioned any parties. They definitely know there are consequences for drinking and they believe it is related to hosting a party. All those interviewed said juvenile parties have decreased and they believe it is related to the Social Accountability Ordinance. All those interviewed believed that a combination of the media coverage and enforcement of the ordinance have contributed to the impact People s (young and old) perception of risk related to hosting underage drinking parties has increased. 10 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute
Some unexpected findings: You can t put a number on prevention - Law enforcement official on Social Accountability Ordinance. Law enforcement officials are not sure if it is media coverage about the ordinance or the fact that it is being used that has contributed to the impact; they suspect both. Additional Findings From a law enforcement perspective, Marin s Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) problems are generally much less of a problem than they were in the 1980s. Problems with fake IDs are currently minimal in Marin County. One officer stated that in order to use the SHAO, police have to prove parents knowingly allowed the party to happen. This makes giving a citation more difficult. Conclusions/Recommendations The following recommendations are the result of the interviews conducted with law enforcement officials and the data provided to YLI and our contractors. Provide regular and on-going training for law enforcement officials. This should include: Controlled Large Party Dispersal training should be made available to law enforcement officials on a regular basis in order to increase utilization of the ordinance where appropriate. Additional training as identified by officers to enforce SHAOs. Increase the perception of risk for violation of the SHAO Improve education of young people regarding the consequences of underage drinking and the SHAO regarding minors versus adults (18 years and older), as many youth are unaware of the differences in possible punishment. Publish the number of SHAO citations given in each jurisdiction in the Marin Independent Journal or similar publications to increase the public s perception of risk regarding violation of the SHAO. Active and consistent enforcement of the SHAOs throughout the county: For jurisdictions that have never cited but given multiple warnings- it is suggested that the policy for issuing citations be reviewed and citations instead of warnings be issued when appropriate. All police chiefs should meet collectively on an annual basis to review data on enforcement of the SHAO, their jurisdictions policy regarding the SHAO and to ensure all jurisdictions are on the same page regarding enforcement. Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 11 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute
Table 1: Basic Facts on the Social Accountabiliy Ordinances of Marin County of Marin Belvedere Corte Madera Fairfax Larkspur Mill Valley Novato Ross San Anselmo Sausalito San Rafael Tiburon Municipal Code Section 6.75 9.54 9.50 9.28 9.56 8.72 14.16 9.60 4.4 13.32 8.19 25.4 Title Social Accountability Ordinance Social Social Social Social Social Unlawful Minor Gathering & Police Costs Underage Drinking Ordinance Unlawful Juvenile Gatherings on Private Property Social Social Unlawful Juvenile Gathering Type Civil Criminal New or Amended New New New Amended New Amended Amended Amended Existing Amended New Amended Date passed/ amended 11/17/06 11/17/08 4/16/08 10/17/07 4/3/08 1/22/08 2/28/07 3/13/08 1/7/1993 3/26/08 1031/07 and 7/6/09 Prior to 2000 Citations issued Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No 12 Copyright 2010 Youth Leadership Institute
Youth Leadership Institute would like to thank the following individuals and agencies for their help in this research: Belvedere Police Department Fairfax Police Department Mill Valley Police Department Novato Police Department Ross Police Department San Anselmo Police Department San Rafael Police Department Sausalito Police Department Tiburon Police Department Twin Cities Police Department Gary Najarian, Marin County AOD Prevention Coordinator Marin County Sherriff s Department Melinda Moore, M. K. Associates Kaya Rader, Be the Influence Youth Mikki Silva, Be the Influence Youth Raina Williams, Be the Influence Youth Zoe Davis, Be the Influence Youth Marin County s Social Accountability Ordinances 13 A Report by Youth Leadership Institute