Chief Constable Mike Craik calls time on binge drinkers

Jun 18 2009 by Helen Rae, The Journal

THE North East’s top policeman last night spoke of a new optimism in the fight against drink-fuelled disorder.

Northumbria’s chief constable Mike Craik said he hoped a new public health debate, unveiled in The Journal on Tuesday, could help change the North East’s attitude towards heavy drinking.

But he called for a minimum price per alcohol unit to be set in a bid to make even more progress.

Historically the region has been seen as a party city which is one of the hardest-drinking areas in the country.

But many believe it’s now the right time to say ‘enough is enough’, with Mr Craik leading the way.

Drinkers and non-drinkers alike are being asked to take part in the North East Big Drink Debate, which was launched this week by Balance – the country’s first ever regional alcohol office – and supported by The Journal.

The debate aims to provide a comprehensive study of the area’s attitudes towards, and relationships with, alcohol by encouraging members of the public to fill in a questionnaire. Last night, Mr Craik said: “This debate will make much of the need to strike the right balance between safe, social and sensible drinking and the perils of the binge-drinking culture.

“From the anti-social behaviour of the under-aged youngsters on our streets to the violence of grown-ups in towns late at night. From the hidden horrors of domestic violence to rape – there is no doubt that we all suffer from a blight on our national culture.

“The North East is not exempt from that and it seems that we are all in search of something of a miracle in our lives to solve the problem. I now sense a little more optimism than I did a few years ago. The endless descriptions of the night-time economy as emblematic of broken Britain and the focus only on doom, gloom and disorder, paints a very unbalanced picture to me now.

“Even my own force’s campaigns now set a very different tone.