Testing, Testing

New Alcohol Strips to Crack Down on Binge Drinking

BSafe Blackpool is supporting the Police in their efforts to impact on binge drinking by providing testing strips for officers to use.

Whilst officers can confiscate alcohol and dispose of it when it is in branded containers it can be more difficult to identify alcohol when young people are drinking it from soft drinks containers.

Police are delighted with the strips which will help with two main issues that they have to deal with. Firstly the problem of 'Street Drinkers', where people are drinking alcohol out of non-alcoholic containers and saying that it’s not alcohol and secondly youths that are causing alcohol-related nuisance including anti-social behaviour, violent crime and criminal damage.

By testing the drinks the Police can prove if it is alcoholic and tell how strong the drink is and therefore confiscate or dispose of it.

Cllr Tony Williams, Chair of BSafe Blackpool, and Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Drugs and Crime at Blackpool Council, said:

"This is an innovative project which is designed to further protect the public from other people's irresponsible drinking habits, especially on the streets.

"Under age drinkers and street drinkers often try to disguise what they're actually consuming. Innocent looking bottlesor cans of soft drinks may often contain alcohol and be very difficult to detect.

“This new BSafe funded scheme will provide officers with an instant alcohol detection tool where they can immediately testthe drink, determinehow strongit is,and where necessary confiscate or dispose of it and of course take appropriate action against the offender.

“We believe that the pilot scheme - the firstof its kind for Blackpool - will help curb the knock-on effects associated with this type of drinkingand also eventually make those responsible stop this unsociable practice”

PC Mark Stringfellow says, “All too often we come across young people that are obviously drunk, even though they are drinking from water bottles or other soft drinks containers.

“The strips have been funded by BSafe in order to allow us to check whether what young people are drinking is in fact alcohol when we suspect it is.

“The strips are non-toxic and if alcohol isn’t present then the drink is not ruined.

“It will allow us to know who is drinking alcohol, particularly the under age drinkers and will hopefully reduce alcohol related crimes as the alcohol can be seized and disposed of and the youths dealt with accordingly. It will also allow us to work with parents so that they can monitor and moderate their children’s behaviour and educate them in the dangers of drinking.”