WATERVILLE (AP) – As the state attorney general issues warnings about drinking by minors, police plan to send undercover officers to the Colby College campus in response to a surge in alcohol consumption by underage students this fall.

“I will do some undercover operations on campus,” Deputy Chief Joseph Massey of the Waterville police said. “I think the level of underage drinking we’re seeing since the beginning of the year warrants some undercover details.”

About 60 Colby students have been arrested or issued summonses in connection with alleged alcohol violations this fall, according to Massey. Also, five Colby women – three of them members of the school’s lacrosse team – were arrested after parties last weekend.

Undercover work might involve sending some officers to campus to sit in parked cars and watch the activities of students, while other officers will try to blend in at off-campus house parties, Massey said.

“I am concerned about the fact that someone is going to get hurt while intoxicated or overdose on alcohol,” said Massey. “It hasn’t gotten any better as the year has progressed.”

Colby spokesman Stephen Collins said college officials do not mind the added police attention, even if it means sending in plainclothes officers. But Collins said some parties are for students over 21 years old and are legal.

The crackdown at Colby comes as Maine’s attorney general launches a media campaign aimed at keeping alcohol out of the hands of minors.

Attorney General Steven Rowe announced Monday that two new public service announcements were airing on radio stations in an attempt to educate adults about laws prohibiting underage drinking.

The ads, which coincide with the arrival of the Christmas holiday party season, are to remind adults that it’s illegal to provide alcohol to minors. In the ads, Rowe says the average Maine child takes his or her first drink of alcohol at age 13 and that one-sixth of high school freshmen binge drink each month.

Children aren’t buying alcohol in stores, Rowe says, but are getting it from adults.

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Information from: Morning Sentinel, http://www.onlinesentinel.com/

AP-ES-12-06-05 1030EST