During March Madness, Chapel Hill Police have their hands full dealing with lots of alcohol-related offenses.

And every year, the police are well-prepared.

Chapel Hill’s Alcohol Law Enforcement Response Team, known simply as ALERT, was out in force this past Friday night, issuing citations for various infractions.

Lt. Josh Mecimore, a spokesperson for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said it’s typical for the ALERT team to be active around March Madness.

“It’s a group of officers that will come together on busy weekends — game weekends – and then, sometimes, just random weekends for things like alcohol enforcement,” said Mecimore.

Other special ALERT duties include responses to loud parties, and looking out for underage alcohol purchases at convenience stores.

On Friday, police focused their efforts downtown, within the central business district – West Rosemary, Church Street, and East Franklin Street, in particular.

“The majority were for things like underage possession, open container, and a couple of fraudulent uses of ID,” said Mecimore. “One person was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and one person was charged with carrying a concealed handgun.”

Mecimore added that finding concealed weapons is not common to this type of operation.

But it’s not unheard-of, either. He said that sometimes, somebody may have informed an officer of a concealed weapon, but doesn’t have a permit.

Mecimore said that ALERT operations are not necessarily related to just the university’s calendar.

“We also to the same thing with the high school schedules,” said Mecimore. “So, around prom and graduation, and some of the breaks that they take.”

That, said Mecimore, is when the calls to respond to loud parties become more frequent.

Throughout the year, ALE liaison officers train local bartenders in responsible serving practices. That includes learning to spot a fake ID, and knowing when to cut someone off when they’ve had too much to drink.

Over-serving alcohol to a customer is a violation of state law.

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