Cops seize 66 litres of booze from teens
Police in East Kilbride seized 66 litres of alcohol from youngsters over three weekends as part of a new initiative to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Officers conducted a three-week campaign over the Easter holidays with high-visibility foot patrols in Calderglen Park, with assistance from the mounted branch and air support.
It comes after a number of local beauty spots – including K-Woodlands – have been blighted by vandalism and underage drinking.
The new scheme also sees parental letters being sent to all youths involved in any incidents in a bid to discourage further disorder.
Schools across the area broke up for the Easter holidays on April 1 and the campaign ended on April 19 when schools returned.
The highly successful anti-social behaviour scheme, saw local police:
■ Issue six police warnings;
■ Make nine arrests, including under the Misuse of Drugs Act, public disorder and one where a teen was found in possession of an offensive weapon;
■ Seized alcohol totalling 66 litres;
■ Issued two fixed penalty notices;
■ Issued 35 parental letters Sergeant Jamie Madden said: “Overall, the scheme has been a huge success. There has been significantly less calls of youth disorder within Calderglen Park within the 19 days of the scheme.
“Where offences have been identified, parents have been sent letters informing them of their child’s behaviour – 35 of these letters have been sent directly from the Area Commander.
“It cannot be understated the significant impact our intervention has had in reducing the amount of alcohol supplied to underage youths and the enhancement of life on local residents who are often plagued with significant issues during summer months.
“Our plan is to roll this scheme out across East Kilbride in preparation for the summer holidays.”
In the coming weeks, officers will continue to be deployed within parks across East Kilbride.
As part of the campaign, licensed premises in East Kilbride signed up to a new bottle marking scheme launched by local police and supported by South Lanarkshire Council.
Alcohol was marked in stores with an identification symbol prior to purchase – the mark isn’t visible to the human eye.
If alcohol is seized or found discarded, police are able to identify the origin of that sale and any offences highlighted will be dealt with appropriately.
Sergeant Madden added: “The bottle marking scheme is a significant piece of work in relation to reducing the supply of alcohol to youths who are thereafter causing issues and nuisance within the local community.
“We were able to significantly reduce youth disorder and remove a large quantity of alcohol from the streets.
“This is the first time this has been trialled locally and due to the success, we have been contacted by other divisions within Police Scotland who are interested in rolling out the scheme in their local communities.”