The Ynys Môn Community Safety Partnership is calling on parents to help them crackdown on under age drinking.
Amlwch Police Community Beat Manager, Dafydd Pritchard is determined to tackle the problem in his area and is asking parents if they know where their child is at night.
“I thought he was staying with a friend tonight!!!
“He’s meant to be staying in his Dad’s house!!”
“He told me he was going camping.”
“I didn’t know that this was going on”
“These are just some of the reactions I get from shocked parents when I take their intoxicated child home after finding them drunk and in possession of alcohol in Amlwch on the weekend. Unfortunately this is an ever increasing scenerio in Amlwch and other parts of Ynys Môn.
“Under age drinking has become a problem in our communities causing anti social behaviour and other crimes to be committed. Youths are leaving themselves open to risks such as long term health problems, alcohol dependency and criminality.
They are also incredibly vulnerable in regard to their personal safety, unprotected sex and to sexual assaults.”
PC Pritchard said that the Amlwch Neighbourhood Policing Team were dedicated to combating under age drinking and were taking positive action to address the problem.
He said that they were working in partnership with the Ynys Môn County Council, off licences, and pubs but were now calling on parents and guardians of young people to also give their support.
“We need to protect young people from the dangers of alcohol and we will be relying on help from parents to achieve this aim. We are asking them to keep their child from Amlwch late at night, deny them means of access to buy alcohol or get others to buy for them and restrict access in the home.”
PC Pritchard said that they were determined to crackdown on the growing problem and persistent offenders would face prosecution.
He said that he was planning to produce a leaflet entitled – “Do you know where your child is tonight?” which would be distributed to all parents in the Amlwch area, together with increased police patrols, operations, using CCTV, and referring youths found in possession of alcohol to a “Teen Total” awareness scheme run by Sion Cadwaladr, the Council’s Alcohol Youth Outreach Officer.
