Papillion police are looking to reduce the annual spring spike in underage drinking through their new "Show a Cop! Get a Pop!" program.
Partnering with Pepsi, resource officers at Papillion-La Vista and Papillion-La Vista South High Schools started giving students a free soda pop if they have the underage drinking hotline number in saved contacts on their cellphone.
The hotline — 1-866-687-8221 — gives anyone the ability to anonymously report underage drinking.
On its first day, the program quickly became a hit, officers said.
"At Papillion South . by noon, we had 10 to 15 people come up," said Sgt. Kevin Covi of the Papillion Police Department's crime prevention unit.
Papillion-La Vista had similar results. "I think we gave away two to three cases," Principal Jerry Kalina said.
Covi said last week that between 40 and 50 soft drinks are being given away each day.
Papillion police found a quick ally with Pepsi, which has the soft drink contract at both high schools. Covi reported that within days of the proposal, Papillion police received an email saying, "How much pop do you need, and where should we put them?"
The schools also have been supportive of the program, Covi said, allowing officers a room and a refrigerator to keep the pop cold.
The idea came from a brainstorming session to find something that was relatively cheap and still effective to encourage reporting underage drinking. Police said young people know better than most about underage drinking incidents, and the anonymous hotline offers protection from any potential social backlash.
Though still in the early stages, Papillion police are pleased with the early results of the program.
"We'll do this until the end of the year or until every student has a pop in their hand," Covi said.
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