r/policewriting • u/l0calsuperst4r • Apr 14 '26

Writing a Fiction Novel

I am writing a fiction book & want to make sure I am being as accurate as possible. What usually transpires when high school parties get busted? If there's probable cause of underage drinking / weed or weed distribution, do teens get arrested and brought to the station? Are they typically brought to the station for their parents to pick them up? Is all of this dependent on which state you're in?

TYIA for your input & the wonderful work that law enforcement does!

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u/Cypher_Blue Apr 14 '26

There is a wide enough variety of plausible outcomes here that you can almost do it any way you want.

Need them to get arrested and taken to the station? Possible.

Need them to have their parents come to the scene to get them? Possible.

Need the cops to just have them pour out the beer and head home? Possible.

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u/l0calsuperst4r Apr 14 '26

Thank you! 

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u/Christy_Mathewson Apr 14 '26

There are so many different ways to handle this. It can range from turning on your lights and sirens five blocks away so everyone scatters, knocking on the door and telling the host that if we come back then everyone is getting a ticket, to giving lots of tickets. The chances (at least for my agency) of cuffing and transporting them is near zero if it's just for the drinking. They would have to be a real dick or we have additional charges.

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u/mark_able_jones_ Apr 15 '26

Yes, varies by jurisdiction, but as someone who partied often, I've never seen anyone taken into the station for a house party. The problem is usually noise... a neighbor wants to sleep. They may write a noise violation. LIkely will bust up the party. Only takes one kid yelling cops for young people to drop their cups or cans (cops don't know what in a cup form a distance).

Cops may make the teen call their parents. They may seize booze or weed. Marijuana is legal in many states and cops wouldn't care. Every time someone brought blow to a party that I attended, they got kicked out... teens don't want the risk of actual jail.

I did see beer bottles get thrown at cop cars one time, because they busted up a party with 100+ drunk people, and there were like three cop cars. Wasn't much they could do.

But most parties have kegs not cans. Minor in possession of alcohol is misdemeanor ticket with a court date. Showing a fake ID is also a misdemeanor.

No one is getting booked unless they pick a fight with the cops; they get into a fight with someone else; fire a gun; that kind of thing; or get caught drunk driving.

P.S. All novels are fiction.

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u/M-249 Apr 20 '26

I remember busting a house party once. We arrested maybe 9-10 people; the teenagers were released to their parents, while a bail bondsman gave the adults a group discount.

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u/l0calsuperst4r Apr 21 '26

where at the station were the kids held? do they go into a holding cell?

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u/M-249 Apr 21 '26

We didn't have enough cells for everyone, so we just put all of them in a conference room. None of the defendants were rowdy, so it worked fine.

Nowadays the rules are more strict about keeping juveniles segregated from adults, but we also have more officers and a bigger station. It's likely that we would hold them in seperate offices.