POLICE say handing out sweets along with "red card" dispersal notices is helping to pacify rowdy drunks.
Tins of sweets are being given out by officers when they issue red card notices banning drunks from troublespots for 48 hours.
Police say the goodies are having a calming effect by helping to keep drunken revellers sweet and preventing potential flare-ups.
Beverley-based Sergeant Jonathan Roe said the move can be a mood-changer, bringing a calming effect.
He said: "We are issuing dispersal notices quite a lot for alcohol-related disturbances to ban people from a specific area for 48 hours.
"If someone is being a bit vocal after having too much to drink we will give them the sweets with the warning they are going too far and they are going home.
"They get a red card with an instruction to leave the area, together with some sweets.
"Giving someone sweets changes their mood completely."
Police will also be handing out lollipops at Ladies' Day at Beverley Races on Wednesday, August 14.
Officers used the tactic last year as a light-hearted way to reduce alcohol-related antisocial behaviour and stop high spirits spilling over into trouble.
Police accept the sweet approach is only part of the solution to keeping trouble off the streets, however.
In another move, volunteers are manning Beverley's CCTV cameras at night to help zoom in on weekend troublemakers.
Police are also putting extra officers on the streets at night, including Fridays and Saturdays, to cut alcohol-fuelled problems, including damage and disorder.
Beverley neighbourhood Inspector Rob Cocker said criminal damage makes up 20 per cent of all crime in the East Riding.
In one recent incident, a set of drunks walked over ten cars. In another case, three houses had windows smashed.
Insp Cocker said: "The current priority is criminal damage.
"Offences tend to go up in the summer. A lot of it is down to alcohol and people drinking a lot to quench their thirst.
"At least half of the cases of criminal damage happen at night. The highest level is after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights when people are walking home.
"A lot of it is just wanton damage, that we want to prevent."
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