Facebook helping police patrol parties

With high school students across Prince Edward Island preparing for prom week, RCMP are finding Facebook a useful tool for keeping track of where the parties are.

'We're trying to make sure that the public is safe and everyone is having a safe graduation.' RCMP Sgt. Denis Morin

Unofficial parties following high school proms have long been a venue for underage drinking and, of more concern to police, drinking and driving. Previously, news of those parties was spread in school hallways and over the phone. This year, students are getting the word out on the internet, using the social networking website Facebook.

Bluefield graduates in North Wiltshire west of Charlottetown, have set up a Facebook page titled "A Night of Mayhem." It advertises a prom night party off the Riverdale Road, complete with lights and DJ, and about 300 people have signed up to pay $15 to attend.

Comments on the page include a promise to bring beer, and vows to get drunk.

The talk of alcohol, at this and other parties, has RCMP on alert.

"We're going to have extra patrols on those nights, with road checks in the different areas we feel that are more in demand," RCMP Sgt. Denis Morin told CBC News Monday.

"We're trying to reallocate our resources, make sure that the public is safe and everyone is having a safe graduation."

Morin said grad committees have been working with police to make sure the night is safe, his officers know these parties can get out of hand.

He's warning police will be out in force, and if students take the risk of drinking and driving this week the odds of getting caught are high.