SANTA MONICA—On Thursday, October 3, the Santa Monica Police Department announced that it received a grant for $80,229 from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to decrease alcohol-related harm in their community.
“This is important to the Santa Monica Police Department in order to increase protection for youth and to address crime at problem locations,” said Santa Monica Police Chief Ramon Batista.
The grant is one of nearly 50 awarded in California to local law enforcement agencies through ABC’s Alcohol Policing Partnership (APP) program.
The grants help local law enforcement efforts by combining theirs with ABC agents who have expertise in alcoholic beverage laws to help reduce alcohol-related harm within their community.
“The Alcohol Policing Partnership program can improve the quality of life in neighborhoods,” said ABC Director Joseph McCullough. “We’ve seen a real difference in the communities where the grant program’s resources have been invested.”
The APP program was created in 1995 to strengthen partnerships between ABC and local law enforcement agencies. The program is designed to keep alcohol away from minors and prevent harm to the community. It has distributed around $3 million to local law enforcement to fight alcohol-related harm.
The funds will be used to help prevent alcoholic beverage sales to minors and obviously intoxicated patrons, illegal solicitations of alcohol, and other criminal activities such as the sale and possession of illegal drugs.
The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is an agency of the government of the state of California charged with the regulation of alcoholic beverages. ABC’s mission is to provide the highest level of service and public safety to the people of California through licensing, education, and enforcement. ABC is a department of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency.
By Trevor