Project: Summer Nights
Funding: £20,000 from the government's Tackling Youth Alcohol Related Disorder Grant
Aim: To combat antisocial behaviour during summer months
Like many areas, Darlington experiences an increase in antisocial behaviour during the summer school holiday. To combat this, the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership has run its Summer Nights campaign for the past two years. This involves partnership members, including youth workers, police and trading standards officers working together in a concentrated blitz on binge drinking and antisocial behaviour.
This has a strong enforcement element, confiscating drink from young people and prosecuting those caught selling alcohol to under-18s.
Safety is another priority of Summer Nights and those found drunk are taken to a safe place by police or youth workers. They are also spoken to about the effect their behaviour has on the community.
"But it is more than just enforcement," says Darlington Borough Council's safer community adviser Michelle Coates. "There was also a stronger focus on prevention for the most recent Summer Nights campaign and providing young people with alternatives to hanging around and causing trouble."
This included running chill-out cafes, skating events and youth club activities on Friday and Saturday nights. Football events were also staged.
Early evaluation of this summer's campaign shows a 15 per cent reduction in the number of reports of antisocial behaviour involving young people. At the start of the school summer break 97 incidents were reported, but by the last week this had reduced to 84.
Another focus of the campaign was to promote the ways local people can contact the council with concerns about antisocial behaviour. The partnership is now carrying out further evaluation and plans to run the campaign again next summer.
