"Prohibition doesn't work," he continues.

Quikstrom says enterprising teenagers will pay homeless men and women on the street to buy them beer.

"We can't even [stop this] no matter what anyone does. Kids will still get alcohol," he says.

Managers at Christy's, a favored Square destination, refused requests for comment.

Tough Laws

Perhaps they have reason to gauge their words carefully.

The Commonwealth's alcohol policies are as tough as any in the nation.

Five years ago, the state legislature made it a crime for students under 21 to possess alcohol, and toughened penalties on stores who sell to underage drinkers.

That change led Harvard to revamp its policies for students, shortening the time between the first alcohol offense and a hearing before the administrative board.

Still, University officials, including then Dean of the College Fred E. Jewitt '57 expressed discomfort about having to police the private lives of their students.

But then--as now--they had little choice.

Harvard faces a loss of federal funding if it doesn't enforce the alcohol policies, a penalty strengthened by recent reauthorization of Higher Education Act reauthorization.

The Krueger Factor

The furor over the alcohol-related death of MIT first-year Scott Krueger was not the catalyst for Cops in Shops, Cambridge officials say, but they admit Krueger's death was always in the back of their minds.

After consulting with officials at Harvard, MIT, other Cambridge schools and even stores that sell beer and wine, the licensing commission and the CPD made Cambridge one of the dozens of Massachusetts municipalities to try the program.