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Over 5000 litres of alcohol confiscated from teenagers over the summer
16 October 2009- Successful crackdown on binge drinking in youth crime hotspots - More than 3500 young people were successfully targeted by the summer crackdown on teenage binge drinking this year and 15,000 were signposted to positive activities, the Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo announced today. New figures show how an extra £1.4 million of new cash helped the police, children’s and health services work together to successfully tackle alcohol related, low level, youth crime and anti-social behaviour in 69 priority areas across the country this summer. The figures show that between July and September:
• 5171 litres of alcohol were confiscated from teenagers (this equates to about 6,600 bottles of lager)
• 3721 actions were taken against young people attempting to consume or consuming alcohol in public places – including 500 dispersal orders
• Nearly 2000 young people were referred to support services - including 324 to alcohol treatment services
• 1829 parents were informed about their child’s alcohol related anti-social behaviour and involved in follow-up action to address their behaviour
• Over 38,000 young people were identified by street based teams with 18,660 signposted to positive activities in their areas
• 2467 test purchase operations were carried out - 349 licensed premises failed a test purchase operation In addition, across the 69 areas the police carried out over 500 Operation Staysafe initiatives. Around 2000 young people, who were drunk and causing trouble in public places, were referred to support services. Compared to the three months before the summer campaign this is more than double the number of Operation Staysafes, over four times more referrals to support services and three times as many young people referred to alcohol and substance misuse services. This means more young people have been helped to address the underlying causes of their anti-social behaviour and prevented from getting into trouble in the future.Dawn Primarolo said:“The results of the summer campaign show a success story of local services working together. This has been achieved by services cracking down on young people’s drinking and taking tough action to prevent anti-social behaviour. This is testament to the united front of police, children’s, health and social services. “Areas have taken innovative approaches to engage young people. In town centres on Friday and Saturday nights extra mobile units have been warning young people about the dangers of excessive drinking, and then signposting them to positive activities, like underage nightclubs and new state of the art youth facilities. Importantly these approaches have allowed young people to have fun without putting themselves and others at risk. “Although the majority of young people are law-abiding and don’t cause any problems in their communities, in some areas of the country some young people’s drinking is getting out of control. This can lead to more serious low level crime and the disruption and intimidation of communities. “This behaviour is unacceptable which is why it is vital that local services get tough on teenage drinking by confiscating alcohol, and use enforcement powers to show young people that their anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. As the results show, the best approach is when youth and social services work alongside the police to support, intervene and prevent young people getting into trouble again. “It is also important that services educate young people about the dangers of their drinking – on their health and their personal safety – and point them in the direction of support services. I hope that local services will continue to work together with the Government’s Youth Taskforce to help thousands more young people and make our communities safer.”
In some areas the police have seen a reduction in the numbers of calls from the public reporting concerns about teenagers drinking in public places and intimidating members of the public. This is another encouraging sign that the summer campaign has had a significant impact and shows that areas themselves are building public confidence about the action being taken to tackle the problem.Home Office Minister Alan Campbell said:“Alcohol is often at the root of youth crime. The 5,000 litres of drink taken out of the hands of teenagers on the streets during this successful campaign undoubtedly represents many incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour that have been prevented across the country over the summer.
“This crackdown complements the excellent on-going work of the £100 million Youth Crime Action Plan and builds on the success of previous confiscation and enforcement operations to tackle underage drinking. Through YCAP we are preventing young people becoming involved in crime, taking swift action where it does happen and enforcing robust punishments where behaviour is repeated and unacceptable.”
Chief Constable Ian Macpherson, youth lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers said:“Tackling problems caused by alcohol is a key public concern. The summer alcohol crackdown has brought police together with both youth services and alcohol workers to make a real difference to local communities. The results of these operations speak for themselves.”The Government has invested £679 million in new activities and youth facilities. This investment offers young people what they told us they want, such as exciting music and sports activities, and making sure facilities are open at the times they want and need, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. The drive to get local areas to open up their youth provision at the weekends is part of the Government’s strategy to prevent anti-social behaviour.Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'
1. Feedback from local practitioners, police, youth offending teams and youth workers shows that alcohol is a key driver of youth crime and anti-social behaviour. 2. Between 2009/10 69 the 69 youth crime priority areas have each received £350,000 funding to deliver all seven elements of the intensive package: Operation Staysafe, After School Patrols, Street based teams, Reparation in leisure time, Youth Offending Team worker in custody suite, Family Intervention Projects and Think Family. 3. In addition, £1.4 million was provided to the 69 areas in June 2009 to deliver activity across the summer to tackle alcohol fuelled youth crime and anti-social behaviour. All areas delivered activity based on three elements: - Enforcement activity using powers to confiscate alcohol, deliver test purchase operations, disperse young people and use anti-social behaviour tools such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts.
- Early intervention and support ensuring young people have access to targeted youth support services and parents get the support they need through evidence based parenting programmes.
- Communications activity to build public confidence that action is being taken and to address negative perceptions of young people.4. Tackling alcohol fuelled youth crime and anti-social behaviour was a key commitment in the Youth Crime Action Plan One Year On published in July 2009. 5. 5000 litres equates to about 6,600 of 75cl bottles of lager.
6. Operation Staysafe is a proven effective way to target underage drinking in public places, with police getting parents to witness their children’s drunken behaviour, and youth and social services identifying any issues with the young person and their family and making sure they receive appropriate support services.
7. Test purchase operations are joint trading standards and police operations to deter retailers selling alcohol to under 18s. If a licensed premise fails a test purchase operation they can receive a warning, a penalty notice or at the most serious level closure. Through the Policing and Crime Bill Government is toughening the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children from three strikes within three months, to two strikes within three months. 8. The Government has invested £679m in Aiming High to increase positive activities and facilities for young people to go. Over £270 million has been invested in new world class youth centres through myplace. The first centres are due to open over the next six months.
9. The summer alcohol activity takes forward the Youth Alcohol Action Plan published in June 2008. The YAAP aims to tackle young people’s drinking through a mixture of education, enforcement and action with industry. 10. Alcohol Awareness Week begins on 19 October and will see a week of activities highlighting the most important issues in relation to alcohol policy. In its third year now, this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week will aim to raise public awareness of the scale and harm of alcohol abuse and offers recommendations for action. Activities during the week will be run in collaboration between Alcohol Concern, treatment providers, regional alcohol managers, drug and alcohol teams, crime and disorder reduction partnerships and primary care trusts. 11. The 69 youth crime priority are: North East
Darlington
Durham
Gateshead
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Newcastle upon Tyne
North Tyneside
Redcar and Cleveland
South Tyneside
Stockton-on-Tees
SunderlandNorth West
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Bolton
Halton
Knowsley
Lancashire
Liverpool
Manchester
Oldham
Rochdale
Salford
St. Helens
Tameside
Trafford
Wigan
WirralYorkshire & Humberside
Barnsley
Bradford
Doncaster
Kingston Upon Hull, City of
Kirklees
Leeds
North East Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire
Rotherham
Sheffield
WakefieldEast Midlands
Derby
Leicester
NottinghamWest Midlands
Birmingham
Coventry
Sandwell
Stoke-on-Trent
WalsallEast
Peterborough
Southend on SeaLondon
Barking & Dagenham
Camden
Hackney
Hammersmith and Fulham
Haringey
Islington
Lambeth
Lewisham
Newham
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Croydon
GreenwichSouth East
Brighton and Hove
Portsmouth
Slough
SouthamptonSouth West
Bournemouth
Bristol, City of
Plymouth
TorbayContact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2009/0189
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