Under-age drinkers targeted by police
10:37am Thursday 17th July 2008
BOOZING youngsters had more than 160 litres of alcohol confiscated as part of a police crackdown on under-age drinking.
Officers from the north and east Hampshire operational command unit of Hampshire Constabulary took away more than 350 bottles and cans of alcohol during a month-long crackdown.
The operation was carried out on four Friday evenings during June and involved about 100 officers, who targeted hot spots and seized alcohol from anyone under the age of 18.
A total of 368 containers were confiscated, amounting to 167 litres of alcohol.
The results of this crackdown came as The Gazette obtained figures for the number of under-18s treated at Basingstoke hospital for alcohol-related illness.
Between April 2007 and March 2008, 22 under-18s had to be treated for alcohol-related illness at Basingstoke hospital's casualty department. Of these, seven had to be admitted for further care as in-patients.
Sergeant Chris Jordan, of Hampshire Constabulary's Safer Streets Team, said: "Alcohol-related anti-social behaviour has become a significant cause for concern in all our communities and the public rightly expects police to deal with this quality of life issue robustly.
"We have been working in partnership with local authority community safety teams, accredited community support officers, community wardens and licensing teams to crack down on under-age drinking."
The latest initiative also allowed officers to find out where the youngsters were getting the alcohol.
Officers called the parents of any youngsters caught behaving in a rowdy or inconsiderate manner and they were reminded to make sure they know where their teenagers are on Friday and Saturday nights.
Sgt Jordan also confirmed that similar operations are planned for the future.
It is an offence for adults to buy alcohol for under-18s, which could result in them being issued with an £80 fixed-penalty notice, or they could end up in court and fined up to £5,000.
Your Say YourGazette
BonzoDog, local says...
9:19am Sun 20 Jul 08
Now can we get the 'real police' in, to make sure it doesn't happen later on?
Temporary 'fixes' are just temporary. 'Softly, softly' isn't working!
Your sayYourGazette
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FROM LEFT: ACSO Richard Owen, PCSO Karen East, Pc Nick White, Sergeant Helen Smith and PCSO Mhairi Stevens
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BonzoDog, local says...
9:14am Sun 20 Jul 08
Maybe it might be sensible to prevent the availability instead of just catching the kids doing it? Is this too obvious I wonder?
I would like to think that the parents are told that their offspring hanging around on street corners are breaking the law in this way?
Maybe they don't know, maybe they don't care?
Perhaps threatening these kids with a 'criminal record' would change their ways? It is still against the law isn't it? Sometimes I wonder as the police confiscate their booze and tell them to go home.
Am I getting too naive or what?