Caught drinking underage at Riverbend, a teen from Tunnel Hill, Ga., sweated bullets for almost an hour, waiting for his father to come pick him up.

“The son had to wait 45 minutes for his dad, the whole time worrying about what would happen when his dad got there,” according to Sgt. Chad Sullivan, supervisor of the DUI Unit at Riverbend.

Whether concealing it in water bottles, hidden in purses, smuggled in flasks that look like belt buckles or just tucked inside big shorts, teens haven’t stopped trying to get alcohol into Riverbend.

“You could pretty much get a piano in with those baggy shorts,” said Chattanooga Police Lt. David Roddy, commander of Riverbend police forces.

As of late Thursday, DUI Unit officers said they have issued 22 citations for underage drinking over the course of this year’s Riverbend. In each case, parents have been notified and have come to pick up their teens so officers wouldn’t take them to a detention center.

Most parents come get their children because they understand the financial burden of getting children out of a detention center, said Sgt. Sullivan.

In the worst case so far, a teen registered a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit, he said, and emergency medical personnel had to be called.

“Kids don’t understand that when you are throwing up, it is because you have overdosed,” said Sgt. Sullivan.

Vomiting is a sign that your body is trying to reject the onset of alcohol poisoning, he said.

This year, in addition to the city’s entire DUI unit, Riverbend police forces have introduced a new measure to reduce underage drinking. The Mobile Sobriety Checkpoint Command Post trailer was purchased last year with $38,400 in grant money. In its first year of operation, it is at Riverbend specifically to help officers process underage drinkers, police said.

The checkpoint includes jail cells, blood- and breath-testing equipment, computer systems for background checks, communications technology and cameras that record every minute of an offender’s experience.

“People forget how much effort we have put into this,” Sgt. Sullivan said.

Lt. Roddy said that within the riverfront festival grounds his officers will be looking for underage drinking by observing behavior. He said another problem is adults buying alcohol for minors.

“When they drink, it’s like a bright light that shines down,” he said. “When we find them, we will ask for their information and probably use one of our portable breathalizers, then we will issue a citation. It’s pretty much zero tolerance (police policy).”

Lt. Roddy admitted, however, that underage drinking still will occur.

“Kids will find a way to get it in,” he said. “They are only limited by their imagination.”

Asked about getting alcohol into Riverbend, high schoolers gave mixed responses.

“I think it would be pretty hard to get (alcohol) into Riverbend,” said Asher Spencer from Cleveland, Tenn.

His friend King Kramer was quick to come up with a solution, though.

“I wouldn’t do it, but I think if you wanted, you could probably just hide it in one of these foldup chairs and get it in pretty easily,” he said.

Colton Cloud of Chattanooga said getting alcohol through the festival gates probably would be pretty easy.

“There aren’t enough people working the gates to check everyone,” he said.

Danny Bettis, a student at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Georgia, agreed.

“They didn’t check any of our bags, and the police don’t seem to do that much,” she said.

Lt. Roddy said most teens aren’t caught at the gates.

“We normally catch them on the inside,” he said. “Kids really need to think about how one decision might affect their future, and they need to think about if it’s really worth it.”