What would the problem of this method on policing?

Question

Drinkers to be frog-marched home

Teenagers caught drinking in the streets will be frog-marched back home by police in a new crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Officers now have the power to split up gangs of troublemakers found hanging around in Quarry Bank and Cradley Heath after securing a six-month dispersal order. Residents say they are being intimidated by groups of teenagers who gather in the towns and have also complained about under-age drinkers who are congregating in the streets.

Officers from the Lye Neighbourhood police team will now be sending letters to the parents of youngsters caught misbehaving or taking them back to their front doors.

They will also be confiscating and destroying any alcohol they find in the possession of under-age drinkers.

The order will cover High Street and Old High Street in Quarry Bank, and the surrounding roads, as well as roads in Cradley Heath, including all open spaces and the back of shops.

The move has been welcomed by Quarry Bank ward councillor Bryan Cotterill.

He said: “There is a lot of under-age drinking in the area and alcohol is a major cause of the misbehaviour and general disturbance these youths cause.”

Pc Gary Hall, of the Lye Neighbourhood Team, said: “The order was granted following numerous concerns from the local community about groups of youths intimidating residents and problems with anti social behaviour, including drinking.

“Officers will be sending letters to parents of youngsters who act in an anti-social manner or taking them back home to their parents.

“All alcohol taken from under age drinkers will be destroyed.

“We will also be running a dedicated operation to visit all off licences in the area to and issue them with advice and reminders about underage sales. “Our neighbourhood team is set on bringing back respect and stability back to the local area.”

Answer 1

It seems that the local authorities should be providing more activities for adolescents, then the problem would go away.

Answer 2

I thought they already did this?  And they found that after escorting these kids home the parents don't even care.  

I think that idea is too soft, I think we need the old fashioned mentality - that a man that cannot handle his drink is a girl.  And for a woman, if she drinks too much no man would ever want to marry her.

Answer 3

I don't see any problem at all, except the kids are going to be embarrassed as h**l.

Answer 4

The problem depends on what you are hoping to achieve.

Let's say that a patrol car stops to speak to some youths congregating on a street. One of them is drinking a can of beer. Beer is poured away and youth is frog-marched home. What is to stop him frog-marching himself straight back? What to do if you frog-march him home and mum and dad are out? What if all 20 of the youths are drinking?

Taking people prisoner, if only for a brief period, is not as simple as it appears. A metropolitan borough may only have 20-30 officers on duty during a night shift. Should all of them be frog-marching youths? Or would we prefer some of them to be arresting burglars and rescuing battered wives.

In the right circumstances the law can apply a light touch, but it can easily become a heavy hand. If the patrol car stops and the drinking youths run off, should they be chased? If you chase them you have to bring them down. With a baton? Or do you leave them alone to come back when the police move on.

The problem here is that youths congregate to socialise away from adult supervision. Without adult supervision, some inevitably misbehave. Why is there no adult supervision on the streets? Because 99% of anybody over the age of 30 is inside watching television. In cities and countries where most adults do not spend most of their evenings cocooned inside their living rooms, society applies a collective form of adult supervision. This is why anti-social behaviour is primarily an evening/night-time issue, even in the school holidays.