Newtown Prevention Council, the Newtown Police Department and Newtown Youth & Family Services (NYFS) are joining efforts this summer season to help encourage safety while preventing the possible dangers of underage drinking.

Newtown Police Department will be instating "party patrols" and liquor compliance checks.

The goal of the "party patrols" are not to eliminate parties, according to Matt Ariniello of NYFS, "but to discourage underage drinking and drug use and encourage safe and responsible behavior."

In this initiative, local law enforcement will provide additional officers and deputies to patrol at night to prevent unsupervised underage parties.

Newtown Police Chief James Viadero said the compliance checks will be conducted "by members of our patrol division and will be random in nature."

Donna Culbert, chairman of Newtown Prevention Council, said the intent of NPC is "to support healthy behaviors for our youth and to discourage high-risk unhealthy behaviors."

Funding for this enforcement was secured by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

Anyone who wishes to report suspicions of underage drinking, at a party or otherwise, can call the Newtown Police Department non-emergency/routine calls line at 203-270-4255.

Newtown Prevention Council is a coalition of diverse community members committed to creating a culture in Newtown that positively engages the community to empower youth and families to make healthy thoughtful decisions and to support healthy, substance-free living.