In recent months, underage drinking has been a highlighted issue in the Borough of Kinnelon, with the Kinnelon Council continuing to discuss adopting an ordinance that would allow police to arrest and charge underage drinkers. However, similar problems haven’t carried over to neighboring Butler and Bloomingdale, according to police representatives from each borough.

Bloomingdale Police Chief Joseph Borell told Patch that, while preventing underage drinking within the borough is always a priority, his department has always felt that it has enough tools to prevent it without adopting additional ordinances or forming an advisory committee, as has been done in Kinnelon.

“While we are always concerned with underage drinking within our borough, we are satisfied with the tools we currently have available to us in the form of state statutes under 2C:33-15 and also our ability to use ‘Stationhouse Adjustments’ as directed under the Attorney General Guidelines to assist us when conducting underage drinking violations,” Borell said.

Part of the reason for this is the low rate of underage drinking incidents in the borough. Borell believes such incidents are being kept in check.

“Currently, I have not seen an unusual amount of underage drinking violations or complaints within our borough,” Borell said. “Furthermore, I have not and do not have any plans to recommend any type of ordinance to the public safety committee or mayor and council at this time.”

Capt. Ciro Chimento of the Butler Police Department echoed similar sentiments, stating that, while the department keeps its collective eyes open for any violation of the law, there have not been too many reported incidents of underage drinking in recent memory.

“I would say it has not been a huge problem at all over the years. Of course, we have those isolated events,” Chimento said. “However, we seem to deal with them in accordance to the existing laws, and that seems to work for us very well.”