When approached by officers two weeks ago, a pair of minors took only minutes to reveal the name of the man who provided their alcohol, State College Police said.

Since then, State College police have found at least five other cases of furnishing alcohol to minors. And State College community relations Officer Tony Lopinsky said he is expecting that number to rise this weekend.

Furnishing is a third-degree misdemeanor charge and will remain on a person's permanent record. Lopinsky said the mandatory fine for furnishing is $1,000, and State College police usually charge furnishers with unlawful acts pertaining to liquor as well -- an additional $500 fine.

Source Investigation Project (SIP), the department's new game plan, targets furnishers with hopes of reducing underage drinking and public drunkenness, Lopinsky said.

"The goal is not to keep everyone from drinking," he said. "We're not beer Nazi's."

SIP, which began in 2004 as a two-year program, received an $11,500 grant from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Sept. 5 to continue its efforts.

As part of SIP, police units are assigned to canvass downtown areas and surrounding neighborhoods, specifically looking for criminal activity, such as public urination, fights and vandalism, Lopinsky said. Some officers are deliberately dressed in "plain clothes" to make them harder to spot among civilians, he added.

Lt. Dana Leonard said he designates two to eight extra officers each weekend to focus on alcohol-related issues.

Once an individual is stopped and found to be intoxicated, police ask for a statement of where the person was drinking.

Lopinsky said most individuals stopped for underage drinking or public intoxication willingly provide information regarding their furnisher.

He added that although the police cannot offer an incentive for cooperation, district judges may consider their cooperation a reason to reduce or dismiss the penalty.

Laura Walker (sophomore-Spanish and international politics), who has been cited for underage drinking before, heard about SIP through the subsequent alcohol class. She said she thinks students would think twice before tattling on their alcohol provider.

"I guess it would depend on where I was. I wouldn't want to rat out a friend," she said. "For me, I don't think it would be worth ratting on someone else for something I would get in trouble for anyway."

Walker added that the police asked where she had been drinking when they cited her, and she offered that it was at an apartment, but didn't reveal a name. She said police wrote that she had been attending a fraternity on her paperwork.

"I think this whole program is designed at shutting down a lot of stuff that goes on at fraternities," she said.

Lopinsky said although the police are including fraternities in their search for furnishers, no specific group is being targeted.

He said police corroborate a story of furnishing by getting specific details such as what the minor was drinking, how the drink was served and what was going on at the location.

Once a story is verified by its details or by multiple parties, police have probable cause to obtain a search warrant of the suspected location. Lopinsky said police could receive a search warrant the same night of receiving information.

"Probably two-thirds of everything police do from Wednesday night to Sunday night is alcohol-related," Lopinsky said.

Andrew Baranak (sophomore-mechanical engineering) said he would accept the fine associated with underage drinking if police ever caught him, because he's been at both ends of the spectrum.

"I wouldn't want them to rat me out because I've [supplied] people with alcohol before," he said. "So no, I wouldn't give anyone's name."

Lopinsky said on top of criminal charges and fines, furnishers are also vulnerable to be sued in civil court. He added that furnishers could be held responsible for any incident that occurs, especially if the alcohol led to drunk driving, assault or other crimes.

"We know we can't stop it, but the goal is to curtail dangerous drinking behavior and associated crime and to target the source," he added. "We think the furnishers should be held responsible for the situation they're really causing."

Lopinsky said he would be on duty tonight and tomorrow trying to promote SIP and prevent furnishing cases before they become serious.