Officers will be carrying out high visibility patrols at Stevenage’s nightlife hotspots this week as part of a crackdown on alcohol.

The Stevenage Safer Neighbourhood Team will be patrolling the Old Town and Stevenage Leisure Park on Friday and Saturday to enforce ‘no alcohol zones’.

Officers will also be carrying out checks alongside Stevenage Borough Council and Hertfordshire Trading Standards representatives to ensure pubs and clubs are adhering to the terms of their licenses.

Officers will also be carrying out checks alongside Stevenage Borough Council and Hertfordshire Trading Standards representatives to ensure pubs and clubs are adhering to the terms of their licenses.

The Hertfordshire-wide operation coincides with an awareness campaign by the Association of Chief Police Officers to encouraged the public to drink responsibly and follows the force’s launch of a new telephone alcohol counselling service.

Police began recording reports of alcohol-related crime at the end of last year and since April 1 up until Monday’s campaign launch there have been 306 incidents in Stevenage and 268 for North Herts.

Det Sup Mick Hanlon, from County Community Safety Unit, said: “We welcome this fortnight of raising awareness of the dangers of alcohol. Dealing with the consequences of irresponsible drinking in town centres on Friday and Saturday night is a significant drain on police resources.

“We already do a huge amount of work to prevent alcohol related antisocial behaviour and crime, which includes training bar staff, talking to students during fresher’s weeks or ensuring that licensed premises are behaving responsibly.

“We work with partners to help people get the right treatment for alcohol dependency – working with medical professionals and running joint programmes with probation and prisons to help offenders deal with their alcohol problems. This work will continue, however this national campaign is about raising awareness – individuals need to take action and responsibility for themselves and their own actions.

“Those who drink too much are placing an enormous burden on police, health services and other agencies. The problems and issues that alcohol presents is not just for the police to tackle, alcohol is a social issue that we all have a stake in solving.”

The county’s police and crime commissioner David Lloyd said: “I wholeheartedly support the work being done by Hertfordshire Constabulary and partner agencies to raise awareness of the dangers of alcohol and encourage people to take responsibility for their drinking.

“Police make a significant contribution to keeping our town centres safe so people can enjoy a good night out safely. Sadly, they are all too often taking on a duty of care for people who have clearly failed to take care of themselves.

“We would prefer police officers to be in their communities rather than being pulled off their beats and placed into town centres at weekends. Drinking to excess not only puts your health, job and personal relationships at risk, it can lead to criminal or anti – social behaviour that damages to families and communities.

People need to take greater responsibility for themselves and their friends to reduce the likelihood of them becoming injured, a victim or involved in violence and I commend the work that is being done to raise this issue.”

The telephone counselling service, which launched on September 1, helps those requiring further support to achieve abstinence, as well as prevent a relapse.

People can ring the 0300 111 2470 helpline seven days a week but if an advisor is unavailable can leave a message to be called back.