PARENTS are being urged to lock away their alcohol in a bid to reduce underage teenage drinking in Bordon and its surrounding villages.
Whitehill police officers have asked parents to ensure that their alcohol stocks are kept out of the reach of their teenage children in a effort to reduce alcohol-related criminal behaviour.
Sgt Rick Davidson said: "We come across kids who are 14 years old who have got 24 cans of Carlsberg lager, or kids that have drunk a whole bottle of vodka without realising the consequences.
"It does cause us a lot of problems, because a lot of crime is related to the consumption of alcohol - a lot of criminal damage offences."
Sgt Davidson explained that it was very important for the police to get parents on their side.
"When parents have been over to France or somewhere like that, they often bring back quantities of alcohol which they lock in their garages.
"We have found that some children have been taking cans of lager from these stockpiles, thinking that their parents won't notice if half-a-dozen cans go missing, and very often they don't.
"We would ask parents to be vigilant when storing their alcohol."
He asked members of the public, not only parents, to cooperate.
"Everyone is responsible now," he said.
"In the past it just used to be the shop managers who would get into trouble for selling alcohol to a person who was under the age of 18, but now the law has changed and the shop assistant can also get into a lot of trouble."
Sgt Davidson also warned underage drinkers that their alcohol will be confiscated if police catch them.
"We have the power to take it off of them and dispose of it.
"This means that we will pour it away, down a drain or somewhere, in front of the teenagers and parents have got no recourse to get it back."