Kirklees course to stop kids drinking on the street has 200 ‘graduates’

An example of the failure of parents or the wider society to prevent alcohol problems in children, and a possible response to them, is provided by a police run initiative in Kirklees, West Yorkshire. As reported in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, a course aimed at stopping children as young as 13 drinking on the street has now signed up its 200th ‘pupil’. The police-run Alcohol Impact course is made available to 13 to 17-year-olds found drinking on the street. They are given the choice of attending the one-night course – or facing the threat of court action and an anti-social behaviour order. It is reported that in the two-and-a-half years since it was launched, not one of the young people who has been through the scheme has been caught re-offending.

Inspector Adrian Waugh, who leads the Huddersfield South Neighbourhood Policing Team and runs the course, said: “For 200 people to come on this course and for us not to see one repeat offender shows that we are having a positive effect on underage drinkers in Kirklees.

“Underage drinking is an ageold issue, so we are not saying that we can eliminate it from society entirely, but we want to offer young people some longterm education so that they are more aware of the risks they encounter when drinking in public and of the action they face if we catch them. “We are committed to addressing anti-social behaviour in our areas and to looking at new ways to tackle the issue and achieve long term solutions.”

The way the scheme works is that police target specific areas where the public have raised concerns about underage drinking, through public meetings and calls to the NPT. Police officers work alongside West Yorkshire Fire Service, Kirklees Council and the charity, CRI, which tackles problems linked to drugs, crime and anti-social behaviour, on the course. The two-hour session runs once a month and brings 10 young people together to talk about alcohol, learn of its effects on the body and mind and raise awareness of the associated risks. A graduate of the scheme is fifteen-year-old Emily. She said: “The course is much better than just being given a fine or going to court because I have learned about alcohol and about how to spot the warning signs of drinking too much. We were shown videos of drunk people and it’s actually upsetting to see what people are like when they are out of control.”