Cops Belong in Shops

Having just read a copy of the editorial "Get the Cops Out of the Shops" (Dec. 9, 1997), I am confused and appalled.

I fail to see the logic in why the person writing the editorial thinks it is a waste of time for the police to enforce the law. It is illegal for anyone undex 21 to purchase or attempt to purchase alcohol. It is also illegal for anyone of age to buy for someone underage.

Cops in Shops is a nationally recognized program, successful in 39 states. The program stresses and provides public service announcements about the program which include posters, cold case stickers, videos, radio, TV spots and more. Our program was announced on all the major TV and radio stations, newspapers--including The Crimson--and posters placed all over campus, including all cafeterias, libraries and dorms and in all package stores.

Harvard's Government Community and Public Affairs division, campus police and the Dean of Students office participated in planning this program and encouraged its success. The program took a year to plan and thousands of dollars of fundraising.

This program is by no means arbitrary! It is planned out with great precision, down to the choosing of the stores at random on a secret computer generated list.

For years the focus has been on the package store owner with suspensions and fines being given out. It is now time for the under 21 customer to take responsibility for his or her actions.

It is illegal to purchase or attempt to purchase alcohol if you are under 21. Period. What makes any Harvard students think they are above the law? Because society says that alcohol is a right of passage? Because people are dying on the road at the hands of drunk drivers and Harvard students do not drive after walking back from a package store? Because package stores are the only ones who break the law? I think not.

It is time for those citizens under 21 to take responsibility and realize that they are jeopardizing a store's license when they pass a fake ID or ask a person 21 or over to buy for them. Why is the focus away from the student is who breaking the law?

The Cambridge License Commission applauds the Cops In Shops program, the Cambridge Licensee Advisory Board, the Cambridge Police and the Cambridge Substance Abuse Task Force for all their work on this program. The License Commission cannot always blame the package store. It takes two parties, and sometimes three, to make an illegal purchase.

As William Strauss, co-author of "Generations, 13 GEN, The Fourth Turning," points out, the times are changing from the Generation Xers to the Millennium Generation. The Millennium Generation are those people born after 1982 and who present themselves as law-abiding and morally sound. The Gen Xers, born between 1961 and 1981, are without such character and are the drinkers and drug addicted students of today. Let's hope the Millenium Generation restores our faith in character, morals and respect for the law. -Richard V. Scali, License   Commission Executive Officer