Palm Springs Police Department will be working to fight alcohol-related crimes with the help of a $55,000 grant recently awarded by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC).
"The program can improve the quality of life in neighborhoods," ABC Director Eric Hirata said in a Facebook post Monday. "We've seen a real difference in the communities where the grant program resources have been invested."
Palm Springs Police Department (PSPD) is one of 27 grant recipients in this round of funding," PSPD said on Facebook. "The grant money will be utilized by PSPD to "battle alcohol-related crime" with the combined forces of local officers and ABC agents. The grant is made possible through ABC's Alcohol Policing Partnership (APP) program."
According to ABC's website, the APP program utilizes a "full-court press" strategy to correct or eliminate alcohol-related crimes and problems. The APP program does more than provide grants to local law enforcement. Its involvement includes ABC training for every agency that gets funding and the implementation of enforcement strategies such as "Minor Decoy" operations.
ABC also engages the community through various programs and prevention initiatives, such as educational efforts like LEAD/Licensee Education on Alcohol and Drugs.
Throughout the years, the APP program has doled out more than $40 million in funding to local law enforcement agencies, PSPD said on Facebook. In line with the "full-court press" strategy described above, the APP program is designed to keep alcohol away from minors and penalize businesses that break the law on alcohol.