Success in drive to tackle underage drink hot spots
Crime Reporter A CAMAPIGN to crack down on underage drinking by targeting adults who buy booze for teens is showing signs of success.
Cops in North Lanarkshire have snared 32 adults who were caught proxy purchasing as they continue to clamp down on the issue through their multi-partnership ‘You’re asking for it’ campaign.
Since the launch of the campaign at the start of the summer, the force also reports that antisocial behaviour has reduced by six per cent while street drinking in public places is down by a significant 55 per cent. Youth disorder incidents are also down by seven per cent.
The campaign, which runs until the end of September, is a partnership project driven by the Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership, Police Scotland and North Lanarkshire Community Safety Partnership. Local retailers are also playing a key role, by helping to identify proxy purchase hot spots.
Inspector, Alistair Anderson, who covers Motherwell and Wishaw, said: “We are pleased to see a reduction across the board of crimes and incidences linked to underage drinking. The 55 per cent reduction of reports of drinking in public places is particularly encouraging.
“While the campaign can’t take all of the credit for these results, it most certainly has contributed to these positive stats. The evidence appears to be clear that the kids are not getting alcohol easily and it is having a positive i mpact on North Lanarkshire.
“By limiting the amount of alcohol in the community, we will see less street drinking offences. However, kids are increasingly clever with how they obtain alcohol and I urge everyone in their communities to be vigi- lant to help us continue to tackle the issues.”
The campaign is responding to intelligence that under 18s are increasingly accessing alcohol by other means, such as asking an adult to buy it for them.
This is because initiatives such as Challenge 25 have reduced the number of direct sales of alcohol to under 18s.
Police Scotland say they will continue to deploy officers to address the issue of proxy purchase and to actively target known hotspot locations and adults who think they are doing no harm in purchasing alcohol for children.
Yesterday, ScotMid Cooperative in Tannochside showed their support for the campaign. Ian Lovie, of Scotmid, said: “Scotmid is pleased to be actively involved in this campaign. I believe it delivers a powerful message.
“This partnership approach should encourage other areas in Scotland to tackle the issues associated with underage drinking.