Louisville law enforcement officers want teens to film underage drinking prevention videos to help educate peers

The Metro Police in Louisville, Kentucky are urging teens to make underage drinking video messages to help warn their peers about the dangers of this behavior, Fox 41 reports.

The Reel Action Video Contest, sponsored by the Metro Police and schools from seven area counties urges teens to produce videos about the harmful effects underage drinking on adolescents and their families.

Officials from the Metro Police told the news source that the students do all of their own work between researching and writing to editing and shooting the video. They added that this method may be the best because the target audience is actually delivering the message.

"The goal is simply to spread the message 'do not drink underage'," says Doug Sweeney, Metro Police traffic commander. "They have to find out the information about the effects of underage drinking, emotionally, physically and legally."

According to a 2009 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 42 percent of students between grades 9 and 12 have consumed alcohol.