Alcohol arrests of U16s hits 340 in a year

A total of 340 youngsters under the age of 16 have been arrested by West Midlands Police for drink-related incidents, new figures released today reveal.

Crimes involving youngsters under the influence of drink include criminal damage, theft, violence and drug offences. The youngest was just 10, a child who was collared for violence against a person. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show 340 youngsters under 16 were arrested between April 2008 and March 2009.

The figures relate to suspected crimes in which the police database showed that alc-ohol was a contributory fac-tor in the arrest.

As well as the 10-year-old an 11-year-old was also arr-ested for criminal damage. Five 12-year-olds were also arrested, three for violence against a person, one for theft and handling and one for criminal damage.

The figures also show 20 13-year-olds were arrested, 89 14-year-olds and 224 15-year-olds.

Most of their alleged crimes, 133, were for violence against a person. Another 50 were for theft and handling while 48 were for criminal damage.

Two arrests were made of 14-year-olds for sexual offences while 28 arrests were made for allegations of burglary or robbery.

One 15-year-old was also arrested for drug offences.

In May last year figures showed one in five crimes in the West Midlands was committed by a child.

Figures for 2007/08 showed that 18 per cent of arrests in the West Midlands were 10 to 17-year-olds. Some 11,329 juveniles were detained by West Midlands Police – 32 per cent for violent offences, 29 per cent for theft, 19 per cent for criminal damage and five per cent for burglary.

West Midlands Police was today unavailable for comment. It states on its website that it acknowledges the importance of diverting young people away from crime, as well as managing young offenders by intervening at an early stage.