On the evening of Friday 20th July, Gill and I were invited to accompany the North Road/Harrowgate Hill Police "Beat Team" as they carried out another blitz on underage drinkers in our area. The "blitz" involved the Police, The Community Wardens and Police Community Support Officers.

Given that Friday was the start of the summer holidays, we all expected that a significant number of underage drinkers would be wandering/staggering the streets and occupying the young drinker "hot spots".

We were all surprised, but delighted to discover this wasn't actually the case! During the 4 hour blitz between 6pm and 10pm, only a couple of children were picked up and taken to the Mobile Police Station (which was located on the Bus Terminus at the junction of Longfield Road and North Road).

Once the children were delivered to the Mobile Station, parents were contacted and asked to pickup their youngsters. The parents and youngsters were also invited to attend alcohol awareness sessions at a later date.

One possible reason for the small number of instances of anti-social behaviour on Friday, may have been the excellent Longfield Rave which had taken place the night before.

Approx 130 Longfield pupils attended the event and from what I witnessed, thoroughly enjoyed it! The event was organised by Longfield School pupils and staff in collaboration with the North Road Partnership and the Local Police Beat Team. The funding for the event was provided from Darlington Borough Councils Dosh Fund which is administered by Youth Services and bid successfully by Longfield School Pupils.

If anyone has any suggestions for future projects, please let us know.

Since we highlighted the anti-social behaviour issue in Harrowgate Hill back in October 2006, it certainly seems that incidents of anti-social behaviour in our ward have been reduced. This is in no small parts thanks to the dedication of our local Police, PCSO's and Wardens whom have worked together highly effectively. That said, nobody is naieve enough to believe that anti-social behaviour has been eliminated in Harrowgate Hill, but with a continued effort between the community and the Police, PCSO's and Wardens we can help to further improve the situation.

If you are aware of a ?hot spot? area in our area, please contact us.