Under-age drinking curb aim of initiative
Making Wishaw safer place
An award- winning campaign piloted in Wishaw is being rolled across North Lanarkshire in a bid to curb under-age drinking, antisocial behavuour and violent crime.
The You’re Asking For It initiative in Wishaw and Motherwell saw violence dropping by 30 per cent, antisocial behaviour reduced by 13 per cent and alcohol-related youth disorder reduced by 21 per cent.
By limiting the amount of alcohol in the community, the public reported 53 per cent less street drinking offences.
Divisional commander for Lanarkshire, Chief Superintendent Roddy Irvine, said: “Underage drinking plays a huge part in antisocial behaviour, crime and violence in our local communities and it is important that we work together to tackle the problem and make our communities safer.
“Please support us in keeping our children safe and play your part in ensuring that your community is ‘not asking for it”’.
Motherwell and Wishaw’s pilot achieved the Police Scotland National Excellence Award as being the project that made the “greatest contribution to policing priorities” in 2015.
Council leader Jim Logue said: “Reducing alcohol sales to under 18s has a significant impact on local communities, helping to improve safety, tackle crime and antisocial behaviour, and improve health among young people.
“This campaign sends a very clear message to adults that buying alcohol for young people is not acceptable and anyone caught faces a fine or prison sentence.”
John Lee, head of policy and public affairs, Scottish Grocers Federation and chairman of the SAIP Campaigns Group said: “We know that tackling underage drinking by targeting adults who buy alcohol for under 18s is successful, as proven in our previous campaigns in Motherwell, Wishaw and Leith. By running this new campaign across the whole of North Lanarkshire we hope to help reduce crime, antisocial behaviour and noise in the area and, most importantly, reduce the number of hospital admissions for young people.”
Officers will work alongside partner agencies to maximise awareness that it is not acceptable to purchase alcohol for children.
Police Scotland will also deploy officers to address the issue and actively target hotspot locations.
Parents, retailers and the wider community have been encouraged to support the campaign by reporting suspected proxy purchase.
The campaign will run throughout the school holidays until mid September.