Police focus on student drinkers ahead of Freshers Fortnight

Beds Police is joining forces around the country to alert the public about the realities of dealing with drunkenness and alcohol-related incidents - and it all kicks off on September 28 as part of a nationwide In Focus: Alcohol Harm initiative.

Beds Deputy Chief Constable John Fletcher said: “Police all too often have to care for people who have clearly failed to take care of themselves. They need to grow up and take responsibility.

“Drinking so much that you can’t think clearly makes you vulnerable and more likely to become a victim of crime, be injured or be involved in violence. We’re not here to clean you up and drop you home, or mediate drunken arguments. We’d prefer our officers to be in their communities rather than being pulled off their beats into town centres every weekend.”

Police officers, street pastors, special constables and police cadets will be heading to drinking hotspots for the fortnight and beyond into the first term.

Offenders are thought to be under the influence of alcohol in nearly half of all incidents of domestic abuse and alcohol plays a part in 25 to 33 per cent of known child abuse cases.

Mr Fletcher added: “Don’t be a drain on police time because you’ve had too much to drink. Take responsibility for yourself. The police service is realistic that it has to make budget reductions but the impact of excessive drinking is an example of the real operational challenges we face.

“We need to put officers on the streets to keep people safe and prevent crimes from occurring as well as responding when they do. But the result of that decision is that these are police officers who are not doing all the other things that the government and public want them to prioritise.”