CHAPEL HILL -- The Chapel Hill Police Department and a local grass-roots coalition have won national recognition for their efforts to prevent underage drinking, and recently released arrest statistics may reflect some of their success.

The Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro was named one of nine "Success Stories," out of several hundred similar groups nationwide, during the annual conference of the U.S. Department of Justice's Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center.

At the same conference, the Police Department was named 2008 Law Enforcement Partner of the Year for its work with the coalition.

"This North Carolina success story shows an effective collaboration between enforcement agencies, the school district and a local coalition," said center spokeswoman Mary Gordon.

Chapel Hill activist Dale Pratt-Wilson founded the coalition in 2004 after dropping in on a high school keg party at an East Franklin Street apartment and seeing more than 100 teenagers drinking and smoking marijuana. She complained to local media and began getting calls from parents who were concerned too, and the group grew from there.

The coalition has received state and federal grants, including $100,000 last year from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for a local law enforcement campaign against underage drinking. It was one of two such grants nationwide.

Underage drinking is such a complicated problem that it can't be attacked solely by educating children or making arrests, said Ron Bogle of Chapel Hill, a retired superior court judge and member of the coalition. A crucial part of the effort is educating parents so they treat the problem seriously.

The focus is on junior high and high school students. Through information packets distributed at the beginning of the school year, open houses and PTA meetings, the coalition has enrolled about 600 families in a Safe Homes Network, Bogle said. It makes sure that parents in the network get the up-to-date information on underage drinking.

A survey in the school system in 2007 also suggested the coalition's work may be having an effect.

The number of students who said they had used alcohol in the past 30 days fell from 48 percent in 2005 to 35 percent. The number who said they had engaged in binge drinking, ridden in a car with someone who had had been drinking or driven after drinking fell by similar amounts.

The Police Department, meanwhile, has its own programs to fight underage drinking. It has an officer assigned solely to alcohol issues and does education programs with high schools such as simulated car crashes, as well as education work on underage drinking with UNC.

The honor that the police department received was for its work partnering with the coalition.

Among other things, the coalition pays for police officers to come in for special "party patrol" units that respond to reports of parties where underage drinking is likely, Gunter said. In some cases, they are responding to tips before a party even begins, and in other cases they'll simply patrol neighborhoods at likely times -- prom week, football nights, holidays -- looking for parties.

Arrests related to underage drinking in Chapel Hill fell in the fiscal year ending June 30. Arrests for underage possession of alcohol dropped about 5 percent, from 193 to 183. Those for use of false identification -- typically an offense by underage college students -- plummeted by nearly 60 percent, from 40 to 17.

Spokesmen for the Police Department and coalition were cautious about reading much into the drop in the statistics. Arrests at a single party, after all, could have changed them significantly. Still, Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran said that any credit belongs to the coalition.

"I think I have to (give) a lot of the credit to Dale Pratt Wilson's group," Curran said. "We still do the same number, if not more, alcohol checks. We're just seeing a lot less (offenses)."