Home Office (HO) officials were in Portsmouth on Tuesday, April 21 to hear about work by the Safer Portsmouth Partnership (SPP) to tackle underage drinking.
The meeting heard about ongoing work in the city and follows a HO grant of £30,000 earlier this year. As a result “Teen Drink Safe”, (an extension of the continuing SPP Operation Drink Safe) was launched. This focused primarily on Test Purchase Operations, information gathering and an educational school play.
Test purchasing is a common tactic used jointly by police and Trading Standards officers. Volunteers aged under 18, and under the supervision of these officers, go into licensed premises and attempt to buy alcohol. If the member of staff serving sells the alcohol without checking for identification they receive an on-the-spot fine of £80 and the license holder for the premises is informed.
A total of 615 test purchases were carried out between January 17 and March 31, with 92 failures in total. However, the fail rate reduced during this period. In the first two weeks over 25 per cent of off licensed premises failed test purchases, whereas in the last four weeks this figure fell to under 11 per cent. This shows the positive effects of such rigorous and continual testing in only 10 weeks.
Of those tested, three shops failed three times, and 13 failed twice. These higher than anticipated numbers highlighted an issue with training in these stores. It is the legal responsibility of the license holder to ensure their staff are fully aware of the law in relation to underage alcohol sales.
Wendie Douglas, Alcohol related violent Crime and Licensing Sergeant said: “With this in mind we worked closely with Trading Standards and will be offering a training package to licensed premises, focused mainly on the prevention of selling alcohol to young people but encompassing the regulations on selling of knives and fireworks.”
She added: “The package is part of a whole new way of working with the stores, focusing on education and training rather than punishment on the first failure. Offering the training package is the first step into focusing on a summer campaign working with licensed stores to prevent underage sales.”
Police officers and Police Community Support Officers also carried out patrols at key times and spoke to young people, gathering information about their perceptions on underage drinking and also seizing any alcohol they found. Teenagers who were continually found drinking alcohol illegally had letters sent home to their parents or guardians and support was offered through agencies such as Motiv8.
In addition to test purchasing and alcohol seizures, messages about the dangers of underage drinking were promoted through other channels. A piece of theatre was written and directed by PCSO Helen Jolley, an experienced actor and director who currently works within the Copnor and North End Safer Neighbourhoods Team at Fratton police station. The play told the story of three young friends who abuse alcohol and how it leads to problems including stealing, fighting and spending time in a young offender’s institution. Schools, colleges and centres for young people across Portsmouth played host to the actors, who received some very positive feedback for their work.
Though the financial grant has ended the work will not – the activity over the last three months has set foundations for work, with the community to continue-both to educate around the dangers of underage drinking and to enforce the law.
Sergeant Douglas said: “This is partnership working at its best. Both the Police and Trading Standards are working with the same aim, to reduce the sale of alcohol to underage young people.
“Training and supporting staff in the retail sector is key to ensuring that the police, trading standards and the community come together to protect our young people and reduce the incidents of alcohol related anti social behaviour in our neighbourhoods.”
Neil Fitzpatrick, principle Trading Standards officer said: "In order to reduce under age sales we believe it is vital to educate businesses who have broken the law for the first time. This is at the heart of our training package. "Our new approach has already delivered results in regards to a reduction in under age sales when we trialled this from January to March.
"We hope that working closer with our colleagues in the police and local businesses will result in an overall reduction in crime statistics associated with anti-social behaviour."
