This is what our young get up to

More than 100 litres of alcohol have been seized around Bognor Regis by booze-busting police officers.

They confiscated the enormous quantity of liquor from under-age drinkers in just nine days.

The huge haul of lager, cider and vodka has surprised even experienced police officers.

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They gathered together the scores of empty and full cans and bottles at the town's police station to show the scale of boozing in public places by young people which goes on around the area.

It is the first time such a graphic illustration has been given of the amount of alcohol which police officers regularly come across being consumed by under-18s.

PC Kris Ottery said: "It's quite overwhelming to see the amount of alcohol there is.

"On normal days, you just go out and seize a small amount at a time. You don't think of putting it all together."

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Taking away the alcohol is believed to have led to a reduction in the number of incidents of anti social behaviour.

West Meads Residents' Association committee member Carol Wiseman welcomed the crackdown. She joined volunteers who collected 81 empties from just 500 yards of Aldwick roadside last month.

She said: "We have certainly noticed in the last few days that there are relatively few cans and bottles lying about. There seems to have been a considerable improvement. I am very pleased to know what has been happening and that it was such a success.

"I think drinking among young people leads to a lot of bravado which causes vandalism and fights. It's sad but I don't suppose Bognor is any worse than anywhere else."

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The seizures formed part of a national crackdown on illegal drinking in public by teenagers.

It was concentrated on the weekend before the school half-term holidays, the week-long holiday and last weekend.

Police officers targeted every large public place in the Bognor area '“ recreation grounds, the seafront and Hotham Park '“ where young people are known to congregate and cause problems even in cold weather.

"The campaign has been a success," said PC Ottery. "Some of the incidents we attended were ones we were directed to. Others we went to ourselves because there had been problems at those locations recently."

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Police officers used their powers to seize the alcohol on the spot. Opened bottles and cans were poured away in front of the young drinkers of both sexes. Closed containers were taken back to the police station to be thrown away later.

"It has quite an impact on them because the young people see their hard-earned money or their parents' hard-earned money being wasted like that," explained PC Ottery.

"Hopefully, it prevents them doing it again in future."

PC Mick Jones said the young people usually handed over the booze without any complaints.

"Most of them were pretty co-operative. They know what the score is and they give up the alcohol pretty easily," he stated.

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The quantities seized ranged from a 24-pack of lager being shared between just four youngsters to a large bottle of cider for a sizeable group.

The officers made an average of three or four seizures a night. But the number declined towards the end of the campaign as news spread about the crackdown.

'Going out early in the nights is a good preventive measure,' said PC Jones.

'It protects the young people from doing harm and harming themselves. It's better to act then rather than be called to an incident later on when the alcohol has had an effect.'

The booze often fuels anti-social behaviour.

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'It is much more likely to occur if young people have been drinking,' said PC Ottery.

'But other factors, such as peer pressure, have an effect. The majority of young people we arrest for anti social behaviour are not generally drunk.'

The campaign built upon the regular patrols by police and community support officers in which alcohol is taken from young drinkers.

The half-term crackdown also included some test visits by under-age customers to off-licences.

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All of them delighted the police by refusing to serve the drink.

Public place drinking by over-18s is also illegal from Elmer to Pagham.

Confiscating alcohol from adults takes place as well but is tackled separately from the recent campaign.