BATH – An anonymous tip line, which allows members of the public to interact with authorities through text messages, led police to an underage drinking party in Bath on Monday night.

Police Chief Michael Field said officers received an “eTip” around 9 p.m. about a party at an apartment on Oak Grove Avenue involving teenagers. The legal drinking age in Maine is 21.

Officers went to the apartment and found several teenagers drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking marijuana.

Four minors, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years of age, were charged with alcohol and drug related offenses.

Field said a 17-year-old male hosted the party while his mother was out of town. He was summonsed for furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol and for possession of marijuana.

Community members can use the “eTip” line to text messages about underage drinking to a police dispatcher.

The program triggers a live exchange with the dispatcher, but keeps the tipster’s name and telephone number anonymous.

In April, law enforcement agencies in Sagadahoc County, Brunswick and Harpswell teamed up with Mid Coast Hospital and a coalition called Communities Against Substance to establish the eTip program, which is funded by the Maine Office of Substance Abuse.

The public can text tips to law enforcement agencies by sending a text to 274637. The program is available in Bath, Brunswick, Richmond, Arrowsic, Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Woolwich, Topsham, West Bath, Phippsburg, Georgetown and Harpswell.

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