Man says police were wrong to enter house
Tells governing body that underage drinking law is too harsh
BY VINCENT TODARO Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - A township man whose daughter was penalized under the town's new underage drinking ordinance says the law, and the police, have gone too far.

Tim Ayers, of Kerschner Lane, told the Township Council on Monday that one week after his daughter and others pleaded guilty to underage drinking, police again came to his home in response to an anonymous call that underage drinking was taking place there.

Ayers said he was "shocked" on Jan. 20 when an officer entered his home without knocking or ringing the bell.

"After thoroughly enjoying the Giants/ Packers game, I turned to find an East Brunswick policeman standing behind me in my living room. ... He just walked into my home."

Ayers said that when he walked the patrolman outside he found three more officers on his front porch.

"From this point, my right to privacy and basic personal rights were compromised, thanks to this ordinance," he said.

Ayers said the officers informed him that a supervisor was on his way to explain to him the rules of probable cause that would allow them to enter his home. He said he was told that the initial police officer had looked through the glass and seen a teenager, meaning he now had reason to enter the home.

Ayers said that, ultimately, police questioned his four children and their friends who were there at the time, and gave them coordination tests to determine if they were under the influence of alcohol, which he said they were not. No charges were filed.

"Guilty, no. Traumatized, most unfortunately, yes," Ayers said. "I am still outraged that these children were treated like this."

Police officials declined to comment on the allegations made byAyers atMonday's meeting.

"The department is going to review the complaints made during the council meeting to determine if there is any merit to them," Police Lt.William Krause said. He referred further questions about the underage drinking ordinance to Township Attorney Michael Baker.

The Sentinel has filed an Open Public Records Act request in an attempt to obtain the police report from the Jan. 20 incident described by Ayers.

The underage drinking ordinance, adopted last year, does not allude to the rights of police officers to enter private residences, though it does allow them to investigate and charge minors found to be drinking on private property. Previously, underage drinking on private property was not legally punishable.

Baker said the police department is aware of the complaint and is interviewing the officers involved. He expected that the department would give a statement to the administration in a week or so. He said Township Business Administrator James White is talking to Police Director Barry Roberson and reviewing the police reports.

Councilman David Stahl, who was a proponent of the underage drinking ordinance, said that if the story told by Ayers is true, it is "upsetting." He said he asked Baker to give him a report of what happened.

"We heard one story of what happened, and some serious accusations were made by Ayers," Stahl said.

Though he said he was "treated like a criminal in my own home," Ayers did not say whether he was considering legal action.

Ayers said his 15-year-old daughter was one of the first to be prosecuted under the township's underage drinking ordinance. In December, she and three other teenage girls were charged with alcohol consumption by minors on private property. On Jan. 14, the girls each received a fine of $250 and a court cost surcharge of $33. They will also be ineligible to apply for a driver's license until six months after they turn 17.

Their Dec. 15 arrests were made after police responded to a complaint about vehicles blocking the road on Kerschner Lane, which is off Riva Avenue. The officer observed several individuals on a nearby front porch, and then discovered that the juveniles were having an unsupervised house party and drinking alcoholic beverages. Police said one of the 15-year-old girls at the home was unresponsive and was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for an evaluation. No parents or guardians were present at the house.

East Brunswick's ordinance and similar laws adopted recently in other nearby towns are designed to curb such activities. In fact, the township's ordinance was prompted by incidents where police came upon parties that involved underage drinking.

Though the ordinance makes exceptions for underage people consuming or possessing alcohol in the presence of and with permission from a parent or guardian, and those who consume alcohol for religious observances, Ayers said the law is "overly harsh in its punishment and too broad in its scope."

He said that while waiting in court for his daughter to go before the judge, he watched a case in which a person charged with driving while intoxicated, but whose blood-alchohol level was less than .10, receive a $130 municipal fine and loss of driving privileges for three months, or about half his daughter's penalties.

Ayers also said that under East Brunswick's law, an underage person in a private residence does not have to be tested positive for alcohol in their system, or even found to possess alcohol. He said court officials explained to him that an underage person could be found guilty if alcohol is found in the residence and "it is reasonable to construct" that a minor could possess it.

In closing, Ayers said the Jan. 20 events at his home "trumped" his right to privacy.

"I support a fair law that attempts to make inroads against underage drinking. I, however, am against a law that turns thousands of children into de-facto violators at the discretion of the police and courts, against a law where an anonymous call by perhaps a jealous ex-boyfriend or a jerky neighbor can effectively allow one's right to privacy and personal civil rights be violated," he said.