Deputy Chief Mark Duncan says more goes on than is acknowledged.

Close as anyone can tell, bromides involving wool and the eyes of well-meaning parents still ring true.

Teenagers – not all, but at least some – drink, do drugs and have sex. Even Bainbridge teenagers.

Perhaps that’s not shocking to most. But ideas regarding the extent of such potentially risky behaviors do remain foggy for many parents, said new Deputy Police Chief Mark Duncan, to a crowd of 65 at Wing Point Country Club on Friday.

“There are things you don’t know about your kids,” he said, before detailing a laundry list of clandestine teen behavior at an event sponsored by the Bainbridge High School PTSO.

Duncan was the first in a series of six speakers who will address Bainbridge parents in the coming months. The goal of the series is to educate parents about a number of issues facing their teens.

Topics will vary, according to PTSO member and series organizer Shari Corboy.

The next event won’t take place until Jan. 19, but Duncan gave his guests plenty to digest in the meantime.

Some older male students, for example, have begun organized efforts to “teach” younger female students how to drink, according to information gathered from students.

That “grooming” of younger girls into the party scene, coupled with the known availability of “date rape drugs on the island,” should be cause for alarm, Duncan said.

So too should the comparatively high number of automobile accidents among islanders of all ages, which in 2005 numbered 452; or the number of DUI arrests (113, also spanning all ages) and alcohol-related arrests or referrals for island minors during the same period.

“Some kids drink,” Duncan said. “And no matter what they tell you, they’re getting into cars.”

Add in the continued popularity of methamphetamine, the recreational use of prescription pain medications and the resurgence of cocaine and heroin – touted by some, Duncan said, as being a “safer” alternative to meth – and there is no shortage of concern among police and parents about how teens are spending their Saturday nights.

Some in the crowd offered the police support. Others asked questions about the law and the role of police in correcting juvenile behavior.

“There is a really bad relationship between the police and kids on the island,” said one woman in the audience. The woman said her son had been stopped repeatedly by police without any explanation and that similar incidents were common on the island, causing fear and distrust of the police among teens.

Others defended police and encouraged parental involvement and accountability.

After 28 years as a police officer, most spent patrolling Kitsap County, Duncan was hired in October to be second in command at the Bainbridge Island Police Department.

He has done undercover narcotics work, served on several task forces and is himself a father of five grown children.

Awareness, he said, is the key to thwarting dangerous behavior.

“If your kids tell you they’re going to a friend’s house, call the friend’s parents to make sure it’s true,” he said.

Or, he said, simply say you’ll be stopping by to check in.

“My kids were always terrified I’d show up,” he said.

In his short time on the island, Duncan said he’s witnessed a greater level of tolerance for underage drinking than in other communities he’s worked in.

“Some parents believe that it’s going to happen anyway,” he said. “So they allow it to happen in their own homes.”

That reality causes difficulty for police officers, who already face challenges in the effort to reduce juvenile crime.

Though officers try to break up parties that involve underage drinking, resources are limited.

Regarding drugs and their impact on crime, police believe roughly one in every three cell phones, iPods or laptops reported stolen at Bainbridge schools are actually given away to repay a debt.

Duncan also addressed questions about the law as it pertains to teens. Some laws, like those concerning sexual consent, are complicated and sometimes depend on the age difference between the people involved. State law says the age of consent is 16, but permits sex in some cases if both parties are near the same age.

Duncan referred to Myspace.com – a networking website popular among teens – as a “primary place” for people trying to lure children, and urged parents to monitor their kids’ internet activity.

“The internet is both a wonderful tool,” he said, “and a terrible thing.”