Police plea to parents over teens' drinking

The comments came after officers said they had to deal with up to 300 drunk teens in St Columb’s Park last Friday.

And they expressed incredulity that some parents had actually dropped their teenage children off to the park.

“The place was not safe for teens,” a police source said.

“For each friendly and naive teen there was another who I’ve arrested, or taken home, or know from the streets. There were even some I was able to confirm details of by looking at their arrest ‘mugshots’. You should not be sending your kids here.

“Police have a role to play in combating this but despite seizing or disposing of over 100 bottles of booze/arresting someone and getting parents to collect kids, it is still impossible for us to do it alone. I thought after the events of a couple of weeks ago parents would have been more concerned.”

Local DUP councillor David Ramsey now wants to see the strict enforcement of drinking by-laws in St Columb’s Park.

“The park is a brilliant recreational facility, but it is being destroyed,” he said. “The situation has got so bad that people are now avoiding the park in good weather, which is just shocking. All it takes is a couple of bad eggs and then it escalates from there.”