POLICE in Mildenhall are cracking down on drunken teenagers in a bid to combat yobbish behaviour in the town centre.
Under-age drinking has become a serious problem, particularly on Friday evenings, and police have already fined one town shop which was caught in a test purchase operation illegally selling alcohol to a 15-year-old girl.
Last summer, officers mad
e several arrests following incidents of anti-social behaviour and Sgt Peter Ferrie of Mildenhall's Safer Neighbourhood team said he believed alcohol was the root of the problem.
"If we can stop young people getting alcohol then I firmly believe we can substantially reduce the amount of anti-social behaviour in the town. There is no doubt about it."
Now, in a bid to avoid a repeat of last summer's problems, Mildenhall police will be continuing to work closely with trading standards officers over the next five weeks in a test purchase scheme to catch out any shops selling alcohol to under 18s.
In addition, police will also be seizing bottles and cans from youngsters they believe are under-age.
New tester devices will tell police what they contain.
"These will allow us to see what they are actually drinking in the bottles and take them away from them if they contain alcohol." explained Sgt Ferrie.
Over the coming weeks, police will also be talking to the town's schools, shopkeepers and residents to get their views on the problem and what they would like to see being done to combat it.
Their findinga will be presented to Mildenhall Parish Council at its next meeting on Wednesday, July 30, at the Jubilee Centre, Mildenhall.
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