Patterns of alcohol policy enforcement activities among local law enforcement agencies: A latent class analysis

  • Darin J. Erickson University of Minnesota
  • Patricia C. Rutledge Allegheny College
  • Kathleen M. Lenk University of Minnesota
  • Toben F. Nelson University of Minnesota
  • Rhonda Jones-Webb University of Minnesota
  • Traci L. Toomey University of Minnesota
Keywords: Alcohol, Enforcement, Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

Erickson, D., Rutledge, P., Lenk, K., Nelson, T., Jones-Webb, R., & Toomey, T. (2015). Patterns of alcohol policy enforcement activities among local law enforcement agencies: A latent class analysis. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 4(2), 103-111. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v4i2.204

Aims: We assessed levels and patterns of alcohol policy enforcement activities among U.S. local law enforcement agencies.


Design/Setting/Participants: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of 1,631 local law enforcement
agencies across the 50 states.


Measures/Methods: We assessed 29 alcohol policy enforcement activities within each of five enforcement domains—underage
alcohol possession/consumption, underage alcohol provision, underage alcohol sales, impaired driving, and overservice of
alcohol—and conducted a series of latent class analyses to identify unique classes or patterns of enforcement activity for each
domain.

Findings: We identified three to four unique enforcement activity classes for each of the enforcement domains. In four of the
domains, we identified a Uniformly Low class (i.e., little or no enforcement) and a Uniformly High enforcement activity class
(i.e., relatively high levels of enforcement), with one or two middle classes where some but not all activities were conducted.
The underage provision domain had a Uniformly Low class but not a Uniformly High class. The Uniformly Low class was the
most prevalent class in three domains: underage provision (58%), underage sales (61%), and overservice (79%). In contrast, less
than a quarter of agencies were in Uniformly High classes.


Conclusions: We identified qualitatively distinct patterns of enforcement activity, with a large proportion of agencies in classes
characterized by little or no enforcement and fewer agencies in high enforcement classes. An important next step is to determine
if these patterns are associated with rates of alcohol use and alcohol-related injury and mortality.

Author Biographies

Darin J. Erickson, University of Minnesota
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Patricia C. Rutledge, Allegheny College
Department of Psychology, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Kathleen M. Lenk, University of Minnesota
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Toben F. Nelson, University of Minnesota
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Rhonda Jones-Webb, University of Minnesota
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Traci L. Toomey, University of Minnesota
Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Published
2015-12-18
How to Cite
Erickson, D. J., Rutledge, P. C., Lenk, K. M., Nelson, T. F., Jones-Webb, R., & Toomey, T. L. (2015). Patterns of alcohol policy enforcement activities among local law enforcement agencies: A latent class analysis. International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 4(2), 103-111. https://doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v4i2.204
Section
Papers