SUPER-strength alcohol could be taken off the shelves in crime hotspots in Hull.
Shop owners will be asked to stop selling lagers, beers and cider with an alcohol volume of more than 6.5 per cent in an attempt to cut street crime in the city. If they agree, it will be a condition of their licence not to sell the alcohol.
Superintendent Mark Johansson, head of operations in Hull, said: "Super-strength alcohol is often favoured by those most vulnerable in our community.
"By providing them with these products it serves only to increase their vulnerability to becoming victims of crime, being involved in criminal and antisocial activity themselves, as well as having a negative impact on their health when regularly consumed.
"Such behaviour can also blight the lives of residents, retailers and the general public going about their daily business."
The Reducing The Strength scheme has already been piloted in Ipswich, where it is said to have reduced street crime by 50 per cent.
Officials hope cutting access to the super-strength alcohol will help street drinkers, who are often homeless, to tackle their problems and improve their health.
Supt Johansson said: "This initiative aims to break the cycle of behaviour by tacking the root cause of the problem, with partners from the police, local authority, health, service providers and retailers working together to tackle the problem.
"The partnership approach will help to improve the lives of those affected by this kind of substance misuse by providing supportive interventions and help, which they often struggle to access due to their circumstances.
"This will also have a positive effect on the city as it will see a reduction in the alcohol-related issues that are often reported to the police and other partners as a result of street drinking."
Premium beers and ciders will not be included in the exclusion.
Humberside police and crime commissioner Matthew Grove has pledged his support for the project.
He said: "We are very, very keen to see this in Hull, which is where it is needed.
"We have significant issues with homeless shelters in Hull with people drinking around them, begging and generally misbehaving, which drives our respectable residents away.
"During the summer, we saw that around the Scale Lane footbridge.
"I believe this is something we need, especially as Hull moves towards being the City of Culture.
"We don't want behaviour like this to damage our reputation."
Mr Grove has met with the MP for Ipswich to discuss what impact the scheme has had on the city.
"In Ipswich, they had around 90 problem drinkers when the scheme started, which has fallen to about a dozen," he said.
"It has to be a genuine collaboration between the police, shops, drug and alcohol intervention programmes and the Department of Work and Pensions because we want to get these people into work.
"Fundamentally, people drinking strong cider in the street at 10am aren't paying for it themselves – we are as taxpayers."
The scheme is likely to begin in spring next year, when problems related to street drinking traditionally increase.
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