The Westbrook Police have received a $5,000 federal grant to help fight underage drinking.

Westbrook is one of nine police departments and five sheriff’s departments in Maine to share nearly $84,000 from a federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant through the Maine Office of Substance Abuse and the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Westbrook Police Capt. Tom Roth said officers, both in and out of uniform, would be conducting patrols over the summer to find where youths are gathering to drink and break up any gathering where underage drinking is occurring. Besides looking for minors in possession of alcohol, police will also be looking for any adults who are illegally furnishing alcohol to minors.

Additionally, Roth said police would be monitoring stores that sell alcohol to make sure they are complying with the law, and not selling alcohol to anyone who is not 21 years old. Roth said this might also include working with the stores by placing officers inside the stores to make sure no minors are able to purchase alcohol.

Police undertook a similar program last summer, and it was highly successful, Roth said.

Kim Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse, said programs such as these are valuable tools to help reduce underage drinking in Westbrook and throughout the state. “Prevention and enforcement make a powerful partnership,” said Johnson. “Underage drinking is a community problem and a community solution with enforcement at its core can work in Maine.”