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UK NEWS

POLICE B-TEST YOBS ON STREET

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CLAMPDOWN: Teenagers face being breathalysed

Wednesday March 26,2008

By Chris Riches

DRUNKEN teenagers face being breathalysed on street corners in the most radical police clampdown yet on Britain’s binge-drinking yob culture.

If they fail the breath test they will be marched home by officers and their parents will be quizzed.

The move follows concerns by police forces, youth workers and MPs that teenagers are routinely getting drunk on cheap alcohol and harassing or attacking people, while their parents do not appear to care where they are or what they are doing.

In some cases, the binge-drinking scourge involves children as young as seven.

A pilot scheme is to get under way soon in one area where the crisis is at its worst.

But other forces will be watching closely.

If it is successful, the scheme could soon be rolled out across the rest of Britain. Last night news of the scheme, in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, was welcomed by a wide cross-section of MPs.

The Tory MP for Monmouth David Davies – who also deals with under-age drinking first-hand as a special police constable in London – described the idea as “brilliant”.

He said: “I often have to confiscate alcohol from kids standing around street corners drinking in London.

“I think it is great that police will be given the power to tackle the issue with parents. Imagine their shock when the police car pulls up in front of the family home.

“Obviously one of  the problems with under-age drinking is that parents are complicit in it, sometimes even supplying their children.

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“Sadly, some parents will not be bothered because they don’t care.”

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, said: “This  sounds like a sensible idea to get parents to take more responsibility for the behaviour of their children.

“The involvement of parents and communities in combating drunkenness and anti-social behaviour on our streets is far more important than any Government announcements.”

David Davis, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Technology clearly has a role to play but it is no substitute for the enforcement of the law or a commitment to tackle the causes of under-age drinking in the first place.”

Last night Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was committed to ending the scourge of under-age drinking on Britain’s streets.

She added: “Police must have all the powers they need to make groups of young people drinking in public places a thing of the past.”

East Conwy police inspector Jane Banham, who is behind the plan, explained: “Any young people who fail the breath tests will be taken home to their parents. We are targeting teen-drinking hotspots.”

The move follows growing outrage over under-age binge-drinking, which came to a head last August with the horrific murder of father-of-three Garry Newlove, 47.

He was battered to death in front of his family by a gang of drunken teenagers outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire.

Adam Swellings, 19, Stephen Sorton, 17, and Jordan Cunliffe, 16, had drunk  vast quantities of Stella Artois lager and strong cider before kicking the sales manager to death. They were given life sentences at Chester Crown Court in January.

After Mr Newlove’s death, Cheshire Police Chief Constable Peter Fahy slammed parents for not controlling their children. Furious Mr Fahy said: “This should be a child protection issue and dealt with as part of care proceedings.

“That’s the bit the criminal justice system struggles with. When you’ve got a parent who just doesn’t care, what do you do?’’

He also called for the drinking age limit to be raised to 21.

Police across the country have reported a big rise in alcohol-related attacks and harassment, with drink-fuelled incidents up by 50 per cent in cities like Manchester. Colwyn Bay’s county Conwy and neighbouring Denbighshire were among the 10 worst counties in the UK.

On average, almost 650 in every 100,000 people there seek help for problems with alcohol – 100 times more than the Welsh average.

In the past year alone, 40 under-16s have been treated for alcohol-related illnesses at the Glan Clwyd Hospital.

Problems with street drinking have already led to alcohol bans in towns  from Holyhead to Flint.

Holyhead youth leader Jeff Evans said: “I’m totally in favour of anything that helps police ensure that young people behave in an acceptable way.”


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BRITISH YOBS

26.03.08, 9:50pm

Bring back NATIONAL SERVICE for all yobs caught drinking & taking drugs and parents made to pay for the service to straighten them out also remove hoods and name and shame the cowards before they go this applies to boys and girls other countries have national service why not us ?

• Posted by: bajReport Comment

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TRACYK - JUST AS CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME SO DOES PARENTAL RESPONSIBILTY

26.03.08, 5:32pm

This solution, which is a brilliant idea is aimed at making those responsible just that, responsible. The parents first off. Let them answer to the police face to face as to why their child is out there and unaccounted for by them. Let the parents be forced to come face to face with their parental failure and perhaps learn a lesson in the process.

If you have kids, you take on the responsibility. It is not the job of the police to PREVENT an under-ager getting drunk. It is the parents' responsibility to make sure that their kids aren't in a position to get drunk in the first place.

No wonder there are Yobs controlling the streets and killing people, and emergency rooms in hospitals flooded with over 1000 young people a week with medical problems from drink when some howl loud enough but do nothing and then lambast the government and the police when they do.

You can't have your cake and eat it. If you want to see the parents let alone, get the message THEM before a police car cruises up to their front door. If you don't like that, take your chances the next time Yobs come calling in Torquay and look the other way the next time your neighbour's kid throws up on your doorstep.

Unbelievable. Great idea, good luck.

• Posted by: RothaymereReport Comment

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BRILLIANT! A WONDERFUL SOLUTION TO A GROWING PROBLEM

26.03.08, 5:22pm

After the recent horrific events of YOBS attacking and killing passersby, in one case kicking a man to death infront of his house, his wife, and his children, this move should be welcomed by all. Drunken teenagers have no rights. You're on the street in a drunken funk, then you get to ride home courtesy the police, I love it.

Of course there will be howls from some. It has ever been so. There are always the complainers who haven't a clue what to do themselves but are the first to scream if someone takes an initiative with an unusual solution.

Kudos to whomever thought of this. Kudos to the British police for doing the excellent job they always do.

I'd love to be there watching a police car glide smoothly to the kerb in front of a home - with their heir and pride and joy in tow. What a great idea!

• Posted by: RothaymereReport Comment

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LABOUR'S MISUNDERSTOOD YOBS: THEIR FUTURE IN “THEIR ENGLAND”.

26.03.08, 3:55pm

Coming down hard on yobs is not in the books… this, I’d wager, is another ploy to disarm and appease the law abiding taxpayers. Yobs, after all, are merely misunderstood. In truth, they are, in the perversely, warped, perceptions of Labour, underachieving little darlings; nevertheless, the future of this nation, thus must be mollycoddled with compassion and indulgence.
Wide open drunkenness that plagues this nation is not tolerated leniently in any other Western-Democracy: why here? We all know the answer. Socialist Labour and the entirety of the “golly-gee” judiciary are inapt, inept and frankly, do not give a toss about us: caring only for the misunderstood yobs and their future in “their England”.

• Posted by: misanthropeReport Comment

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YOBS AND BOOZE

26.03.08, 2:46pm

Comment are made with regard to the Police not doing anything but when they are so undermanned and are then kept tied up with paperwork when the do arrest someone it is no wonder they are not on the streets.
What we need is the same laws as the USA & Canada where it it an offence to have an open bottle of alcohol in public, when you buy booze in these countries it has to be put in the boot of the car and then taken home to be consumed.
This is a wonderful idea but unless we suddenly have an increase in Police numbers by a 1000% then it is unworkable.
Also when caught they should be taken home and their parents fined heavily on the spot, I do know that some parents can;t control their ofspring then they as mentioned should end up in a remand centre for a month or so, with no luxuries.
But this is another idea that will die as all other have before them because as soon as they get caught it will be a slap on the wrist nothing more, and also another badge of honour for them to parade in front of their other moronic mates.
Alchohol needs to be harder to get hold of but some of these yobs parent get it at the supermarket and let their sons and daughters drink as much as they want as they do not care as long as they don;t interfere with their lives.

• Posted by: KEEFReport Comment

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DRINKING IN THE STREET

26.03.08, 9:28am

Anyone under 21 caught drinking alcohol in the street should be prosecuted immediately as in most countries, never mind wasting time breathalysing.

• Posted by: mollymaloneReport Comment

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