Police Praise Young People In Day of Action

1st July 2013

Police praise young people in Highlands and Islands in recent Campaign Against Violence day of action.

Police Scotland Highland and Islands Division are praising youths in a recent Campaign Against Violence (CAV) day that focussed on underage drinking, last Friday (28 June 2013), the first day of the school summer holidays.

The campaign day involved dedicated officers carrying out specific patrols across the Division to disrupt the distribution and consumption of alcohol amongst youths, deter young people from drinking underage, detect those who do and ultimately divert them away from such activity.

As part of diversionary measures, Police and partners hosted ‘Stay Safe, Enjoy the Summer' event in Falcon Square, Inverness on Friday afternoon. This included stands where a wide cross-section of the local community approached staff from Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, National Camera Safety Partnership, Highland Council, NHS Highland and Action for Children to obtain advice on subjects such as road safety, alcohol and drugs.

As part of detecting those young people partaking in underage drinking, a number of searches were carried out, of which only 56% were found to be in possession of alcohol. In addition high visibility patrols were carried out across the Division where young people are known to gather and consume alcohol in order to deter and disrupt this harmful act.

Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Julian Innes spoke of the success of the CAV day: "Officers carried out a number of patrols in local areas where young people are known to frequent in order prevent them from becoming victims or perpetrators of crime and I am happy to say that this was extremely successful.

"I want to thank young people in the Highlands and Islands for making responsible decisions, taking care of their own health and welfare and hope this will continue over the summer months.

"We will continue targeting patrols in these areas and making every effort to stem the supply of alcohol to young people over the summer months.”