Tackling Youth Drinking

A proactive multi-agency campaign to tackle under-age drinking has resulted in a dramatic fall in alcohol -related anti social behaviour, according to Derby Community Safety Partnership.

Under the Challenge and Support programme, led by the CSP, alcohol workers from Young Addaction and youth workers from Derby City Council have been targeting anti social behaviour and youth drinking ‘hotspots’ on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

Alcohol has been confiscated, referrals made to the CSP anti social behaviour team where necessary for further action and intensive support offered to young people with problematic drink issues.

As a result of this outreach work, incident referrals to the ASB team related to underage drinking have fallen from 141 between April and November 2008 to 91 in the same period in 2009 – a reduction of 35%.

CSP Challenge and Support Manager Karen Minto explained: “The outreach work was adopted this year in response to the fact that around 40% of alcohol-related referrals received by the ASB team involve young people gathering in groups and drinking alcohol.

“Acting on information from the neighbourhood teams, visits were made to key locations with the purpose of challenging the young people about their actions, supporting them to adopt healthier lifestyles and enforcing the law by reporting anti social behaviour to the ASB team.

“By working together, we have been able to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related anti social behaviour in our local communities and will be continuing the outreach work in the coming months with a view to making further inroads into this issue that is of concern to many local residents.”

Meanwhile, hard hitting posters created by young people from Derby are to be distributed throughout the city flagging up the consequences on individuals and local communities of alcohol-related anti social behaviour.

A group of young people aged eight to 19 were recently involved in the creative project organised by Derby Community Safety Partnership and QUAD who were tasked with producing posters challenging a range of issues including the health implications of alcohol, the dangers of committing crime and anti social behaviour or becoming a victim of crime when under the influence of alcohol and the damage that that such crime can have on local communities.

Derby Community Safety Partnership’s Kerry Hodges explained: This project is part of the city’s Youth Alcohol Action Plan which involves a tiered approach to enforcement and intervention for young people regarding alcohol related anti social behaviour.

“A diverse group of young people have designed the posters which are designed to challenge the consequences of alcohol misuse – whether that is on the well-being of the young people themselves or the wider community.

“The images are very striking and thought provoking and we are now looking to distribute these throughout schools, youth clubs and particularly in alcohol related anti social behaviour hot spots such as parks and shopping precincts.”

As a result of this outreach work, incident referrals to the ASB team related to underage drinking have fallen from 141 between April and November 2008 to 91 in the same period in 2009 – a reduction of 35%.

CSP Challenge and Support Manager Karen Minto explained: “The outreach work was adopted this year in response to the fact that around 40% of alcohol-related referrals received by the ASB team involve young people gathering in groups and drinking alcohol.

“Acting on information from the neighbourhood teams, visits were made to key locations with the purpose of challenging the young people about their actions, supporting them to adopt healthier lifestyles and enforcing the law by reporting anti social behaviour to the ASB team.

“By working together, we have been able to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related anti social behaviour in our local communities and will be continuing the outreach work in the coming months with a view to making further inroads into this issue that is of concern to many local residents.”

Meanwhile, hard hitting posters created by young people from Derby are to be distributed throughout the city flagging up the consequences on individuals and local communities of alcohol-related anti social behaviour.

A group of young people aged eight to 19 were recently involved in the creative project organised by Derby Community Safety Partnership and QUAD who were tasked with producing posters challenging a range of issues including the health implications of alcohol, the dangers of committing crime and anti social behaviour or becoming a victim of crime when under the influence of alcohol and the damage that that such crime can have on local communities.

Derby Community Safety Partnership’s Kerry Hodges explained: This project is part of the city’s Youth Alcohol Action Plan which involves a tiered approach to enforcement and intervention for young people regarding alcohol related anti social behaviour.

“A diverse group of young people have designed the posters which are designed to challenge the consequences of alcohol misuse – whether that is on the well-being of the young people themselves or the wider community.

“The images are very striking and thought provoking and we are now looking to distribute these throughout schools, youth clubs and particularly in alcohol related anti social behaviour hot spots such as parks and shopping precincts.”

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