NORTH Lanarkshire’s ‘You’re asking for it’ campaign is proving to be an effective deterrent as adults are urged to think twice before they consider buying alcohol for underage children.
Police Scotland analysts report that antisocial behaviour has reduced by 6%, reports of street drinking in public places have reduced by a significant 55%, and youth disorder incidents are down 7%.
The campaign, which runs until the end of September, has led to 32 detections of proxy purchasing.
Driven by the Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership, Police Scotland and North Lanarkshire Community Safety Partnership, the project also involves local retailers who are playing a key role by helping to identify the proxy purchase hot spots in their communities.
Alistair Anderson, Motherwell and Wishaw Area Inspector, said: “We are pleased to see a reduction across the board of crimes and incidences linked to underage drinking. The 55% reduction of reports of drinking in public places is particularly encouraging.
“While the campaign can’t take all of the credit for these results, it most certainly has contributed to these positive stats.
“The evidence appears to be clear that the kids are not getting alcohol easily and it is having a positive impact on North Lanarkshire. By limiting the amount of alcohol in the community, we will see less street drinking offences.
“However, kids are increasingly clever with how they obtain alcohol and I urge everyone in their communities to be vigilant to help us continue to tackle the issues.”
Police Scotland youth volunteer Alana Ferguson, who is 15, agrees that the campaign is a good idea. “Teenagers get themselves and grown-ups into trouble by trying to buy alcohol,” she said. “A lot of people have seen the adverts so hopefully they’ll think twice before buying alcohol, or asking someone to get it for them.”
The ‘You’re asking for it’ campaign is responding to intelligence that under-18s are increasingly accessing alcohol by other means, such as asking an adult to buy it for them – initiatives such as ‘Challenge 25’ have reduced the number of direct sales of alcohol to under-18s.
Police Scotland continues to deploy officers to address the issue of proxy purchase and to actively target known hot spot locations and adults who think they are doing no harm in purchasing alcohol for children.
Adults who buy alcohol for children in North Lanarkshire could be fined up to £5,000 or even face a jail term.
The campaign builds on an award-winning pilot initiative in Wishaw and Motherwell in 2015. It runs until the end of September, when the partnership project will report the full impact the campaign has had on the local authority area.
The Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership (SAIP) collaborates to deliver joint initiatives to tackle alcohol related harm and promote responsible drinking across Scotland. It is a partnership of alcoholic beverage producers and representatives of the on-trade and off-trade in Scotland.
For more information and resources visit www.dontaskforit.com