Minnesota Institute of Public Health

For this Blog message, our MIPH colleague Sheila Nesbitt has organized a beautiful tribute to a deserving person in Phil Bartusek. Read on...

This week we lost a great friend. Lt. Phil Bartusek of the Albert Lea Police Department, who fought a brave battle against cancer, passed away on December 15, 2008. Today and always we honor Phil and remember his accomplishments.

Late on a Friday evening, law enforcement officers in Freeborn County, MN, responded to a report of a possible burglary. A neighbor who was watching the home while the family was out of town saw several men climb a fence and enter the property. Law enforcement approached the home. They saw movement at a window. Officers entered the house with weapons drawn prepared for a burglary in progress. What they found instead were four 20-year olds having an underage drinking party.

“Those kids had no idea how serious the situation was. Anytime we approach a scene with guns drawn, the stakes are pretty high,” said Lt. Phil Bartusek of the Albert Lea Police Department. “…not to mention the inherent danger of the party itself. We have seen a lot of underage drinking parties get out of hand.”

The youth were cited for underage drinking. That would have been the end of the story in many communities but not in Freeborn County. In March 2005, with a $5000 grant from the Minnesota Institute of Public Health, they kicked off the Zero Adult Provider (ZAP) project. ZAP focuses on holding illegal providers of alcohol accountable.

When Albert Lea officers found those underage youth drinking, they began an investigation into the source of the alcohol. At first, the youth wouldn’t provide any information. Freeborn officers kept at it. They questioned the youth individually. They reminded the men of the seriousness of a fourth-degree burglary charge. One by one they each provided information about the 22-year old who purchased alcohol for them. The next day, the alleged provider was interviewed at the police station. He gave a full confession and was charged with a gross misdemeanor for providing alcohol to a minor.

In Freeborn County the message is out. Don’t provide alcohol to anyone under the age of 21. In the first year of their project, Freeborn County achieved a 500 percent increase in charges against the illegal providers of alcohol to a minor.

One mother approached Lt. Bartusek to thank him for his work. She said she talked to her kids until she was “blue in the face,” but she knew she wasn’t getting through. Once ZAP started, her kids paid attention and realized that she and the entire county were serious. “You made my job as a parent easier,” she reported.

Phil, you made parents’ lives easier and our communities stronger. You will be missed!

For more information about the ZAP project and enforcing illegal provider laws, please contact Sheila Nesbitt by filling out our electronic contact form HERE or call 800-782-1878.