Dickson of Dock Green - Alliance Councillor on the beat in Carrickfergus

4.46.23pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 4th Jun 2007

Carrickfergus Alliance Councillor Stewart Dickson

Carrickfergus Alliance Councillor Stewart Dickson went out on the beat with local police on Friday night and stated that underage drinking coupled with anti-social behaviour were the most problematic issues during the evening. He stated that he was shocked at the scale of underage drinking and hailed the officers' professionalism in engaging effectively with people to tackle this problem. He was on patrol with Carrickfergus district police from 6.45pm till 1.30am on Friday night.

Cllr Stewart Dickson, who is a member of Carrickfergus District Policing Partnership said: "The main issues that local police had to tackle on Friday night were underage drinking and anti-social behaviour. They handled these issues in a sensitive, practical and highly-professional manner.

"I will be taking a very positive message on the performance of local police back to the Carrickfergus District Policing Partnership. I was, however, shocked at the scale of underage drinking. The volume and value of alcohol that young people were attempting to consume was alarming. This is an issue that must be examined urgently by the local District Policing Partnership.

"I accompanied the police to a number of well known underage drinking dens and got a good insight into the approach they use to confiscate alcohol and diffuse the situation.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Carrickfergus Community police section for giving me the chance to go out on patrol with them on Friday night."

"The abiding impression that I took away from my night on patrol is the tremendously positive and effective manner with which they engaged with local young people to ensure that problems were minimized."

ENDS