Suffolk Police, Babergh District Council and our partner organisations in Sudbury are cracking down on alcohol-related youth nuisance this summer, with a raft of measures to educate young people and deal with anyone causing trouble.??
Officers are using a mixture of education and enforcement, following complaints received by the Sudbury and Great Cornard Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT). Sergeant Ian Watson from the SNT says, “We want young people to enjoy the summer and their time off from school and college and most young people do not cause any problems for others. Sadly though, there are incidents of young people causing problems whilst under the influence of alcohol. Incidents such as urinating against trees and fences, using foul language and drinking underage are unacceptable and cause a great deal of concern to local residents.??“Officers have visited the local upper schools to speak to pupils about our powers to seize alcohol, issue bans and make arrests. It is an offence for a person under 18 to be found with alcohol in public on three occasions in one year and offenders may be arrested – also we can and will ban anyone over the age of 11 from an area for up to 48 hours if anti-social behaviour or crime is likely to occur. These visits were well received and the end of term celebrations for Year 11 students have passed off largely without incident.”??Paul Little, Babergh’s Community Safety Manager adds: “Whilst it is important to acknowledge the many positive contributions that young people make to their communities, it is also right that the Council and Police work together to tackle genuine problems. Many of the young people involved, when not using alcohol, are perfectly respectful young people, but like some adults adding alcohol can result in disorderly and on occasions aggressive behaviour. We know that alcohol fuelled disorder is a key driver of crime and anti-social behaviour in adults and young people, and the issue is a key priorities for our community safety work." Besides headcams worn by police, CCTV in Sudbury Town Centre is proving extremely useful in identifying and dealing with alcohol-related anti-social behaviour and crime. Sgt Watson explains, “At the end of last month a young person was given a fixed penalty notice of £80 for disorderly behaviour in Sudbury town centre. For pulling his trousers down in front of the cameras he was banned from the area for 48 hours and also had to pay two weeks’ wages from his Saturday job to cover the fine. His father was very supportive of this action and this young man and his friends will certainly think twice before going out again.??“CCTV also enabled us to identify two males seen on separate ocassions purchasing alcohol from a shop and giving it to youths outside. The alcohol was seized and disposed of and both males were dealt with appropriately, one of them receiving an £80 fine and the other a caution.”
