- Booze has been confiscated from under-age drinkers during a two-day police operation in Whitehaven. Police community support officers carried out Operation Poplar on Friday and Saturday evenings. They visited areas including Castle Park, Mount Pleasant, Rosemary Lane and Hensingham and took booze from children as young as 13.
PCSO David Nixon said the message was that police will not tolerate under-age drinking. “We have a zero tolerance approach. The message is getting home but with the weather getting better, people are going outside in the sun more and drinking,” he said. He said two 14-year-olds told police that they got their alcohol from their parents, while a 13-year-old had to be taken home after drinking too much. “Thirty names of under-18s were taken in the two days, all of who had alcohol with them,” said PCSO Nixon.
A couple of over 18s had drink confiscated and a couple were found to be in breach of their Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO). The details of all the youngsters are updated on the Anti-Social Behaviour Register and some may get letters to their parents or home visits. Further similar operations will be carried out over the coming months and into the school summer holidays. The Whitehaven News
- Youths in Locking are risking their lives by climbing a school roof at weekends to get to a secret drinking den. Locking Primary School is built around a yard which is hidden from sight, so is an ideal place for children to hide from prying eyes, says headteacher Joanne Jones. She said: "The school caretaker now has to go in on Sundays to clear away left over cans and broken glass from the yard.
"Earlier this month we caught children, aged 11-18, climbing the roof to get into the yard. "Letters were written to their parents and the children were made to hand over their pocket money for the damage done to light fittings in the school hall caused when they walked on the roof. "The danger is that either schoolchildren will fall and cut themselves on broken glass or one of the kids involved might suffer serious injuries, or worse."
Mrs Jones is now in discussions with the village's local action team about paying for anti-vandal paint for the school buildings at a cost of £400. The headteacher has been in regular contact with village bobby PC Adrian Woolacott, who is continuing to investigate the matter, and has stepped up his patrols around the school. Weston & Somerset Mercury
- Irresponsible parents are complaining that police officers who confiscate alcohol from their children are 'breaching their human rights'. Cheddar police say on numerous occasions it is the parents who buy alcohol for their children, when they should be supporting officers in trying to curb under-age drinking. Sergeant Pete Yensen said the youngest person they had caught with alcohol in the area was just 13 years old and parents should be more supportive of the police. He said: "The best solution to the problem is to educate the youths about the dangers of drinking but if parents are supplying it what are we supposed to do?"
An investigation by the Somerset Mercury also showed that youngsters in the area are boasting about under-age drinking and swapping stories about drunken antics on the internet. One 14-year-old girl from Cheddar listed her favourite drinks as rum, vodka and white wine and said: "I love getting wasted with my mates at the weekend." A 16-year-old boy from Cheddar said: "I get drunk most weekends. It's what keeps me going in this boring place." One 15-year-old from Axbridge wrote: "Only one thing you need to know about me - I love p***ing around and getting p***ed."
Websites are also being used to organise drinking. A 16-year-old youth explained he was moving from Australia to Axbridge and wanted to know where he could meet up with people to drink. Sgt Yensen said: "The latest incident of catching a child with alcohol was just this week. "We have caught them hanging around in the centre of Cheddar, the square in Axbridge and on the main roads in Wedmore. "We aren't necessarily catching them drunk, but the fact they have alcohol on them is very worrying. When we find them we take the bottles off them, but we have had parents complaining about this. One parent admitted they had bought the alcohol for their child and said it was a breach of their human rights that we had taken it away." Weston & Somerset Mercury
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