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Police target shops to stop kid boozers
IN a move to crack down on under-age drinking, police officers will be visiting shops selling alcohol to warn managers about the consequences of selling booze to youngsters.
The moves is a bid to tackle the problem of gangs of teenagers hanging around in Tring and getting drunk and rowdy.
During the Christmas period Silk Mill and the town centre became problem areas where the police were being called by neighbours being disturbed by drunk young people.
Neighbourhood sergeant Adele Hopkin said: “We are getting reports of youngsters staggering about and smashing bottles.
“They either disappeared by the time we arrived or we found them and took them home.”
She explained that it was a recurring problem that officers had to deal with during holiday periods where there could be groups of up to 10 teenagers hanging around drinking in the evening until the early hours of the morning.
She said: “ It’s a minority of them that are showing everyone up. New Year was a problem.
“We don’t know where they are getting the alcohol from – it could even be from their parents giving it to them or adults going into shops to buy it for them. That’s why we are looking into it.”
In the next few weeks officers will visit shops and off licences that open late and advise them of the law against selling alcohol to people under 18 years old or to adults they suspect are buying it for minors.
Chairman of Tring Neighbourhood Watch Terry Garwood said: “We have areas, such as Silk Mill that have been plagued with problems over the years but the police have been fairly active with spots checks to improve the situation.”
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Weather for Hemel Hempstead
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
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