Teenagers sold booze by slack shop staff (From The Argus)

I've seen how they operate. Get a very tall 15-16 year old who looks about 20, get them to buy booze, then prosecute the shopkeeper. Easy money.

PorkBoat wrote:
I've seen how they operate. Get a very tall 15-16 year old who looks about 20, get them to buy booze, then prosecute the shopkeeper. Easy money.

You can only imagine how poor Sussex Plods conviction rate would be if they removed the Entrapment Mobile Phones, the Bait Cars and the Send in a guy that looks 20 and prosecute....
Or maybe you do not have to imagine.....look them up (less that 31 percent) and remove a third of them..... Cheers!

had your house burgled or your car stolen? Might send someone round next month if they can possibly drag themselves away from nicking people for smoking in works vans.

Silly headline when "teenagers" are allowed to buy alcohol, and are 16 year olds really children in looks or actions.

We need a system like the states where everyone who looks under 35 is expecting to be carded when trying to buy booze

far better to watch the shops, that way they can catch the real offenders and those who buy ciggies and booze on behalf of youngsters and those whostart selling in the morning before they should. but of course the real criminals are the local authority licensing departments who hand out to any applicant straight of the plane from columbo, trincomalee or ankara

far better to watch the shops, that way they can catch the real offenders and those who buy ciggies and booze on behalf of youngsters and those whostart selling in the morning before they should. but of course the real criminals are the local authority licensing departments who hand out licenses to any applicant straight of the plane from columbo, trincomalee or ankara

Cash bull, bring on the bait cars and 'entrapment' mobile phones I say. Who's it affecting apart from the crims?

John Steed wrote:
far better to watch the shops, that way they can catch the real offenders and those who buy ciggies and booze on behalf of youngsters and those whostart selling in the morning before they should. but of course the real criminals are the local authority licensing departments who hand out licenses to any applicant straight of the plane from columbo, trincomalee or ankara

Nothing in the article gives rise to the suspicion that the staff found guilty of selling alcohol to minors are from either columbo, trincomalee or ankara.

Must be something else then ;)

Leon wrote:
Cash bull, bring on the bait cars and 'entrapment' mobile phones I say. Who's it affecting apart from the crims?

The problem is, this is lazy Police work, makes the figures look slightly better, while real criminals walk free in Sussex, if you want to see how it works, look up Sussex Police in the HMIC under Murder Rape Serious Crime, less than 14 percent detection rate and even worse conviction rate... Still, caught a few foreigners selling cider to 6'3" sixteen year olds so ..result.

Cash Bull wrote:

Leon wrote:
Cash bull, bring on the bait cars and 'entrapment' mobile phones I say. Who's it affecting apart from the crims?

The problem is, this is lazy Police work, makes the figures look slightly better, while real criminals walk free in Sussex, if you want to see how it works, look up Sussex Police in the HMIC under Murder Rape Serious Crime, less than 14 percent detection rate and even worse conviction rate... Still, caught a few foreigners selling cider to 6'3" sixteen year olds so ..result.

It's a good point. I wish I could find out what the in-depth views were of our prospective Police Commissioner candidates on things like resource management, then I might know which one to vote for, All I've read so far are brief paragraphs where they tut about 'hate crime'.

mimseycal wrote:

John Steed wrote:
far better to watch the shops, that way they can catch the real offenders and those who buy ciggies and booze on behalf of youngsters and those whostart selling in the morning before they should. but of course the real criminals are the local authority licensing departments who hand out licenses to any applicant straight of the plane from columbo, trincomalee or ankara

Nothing in the article gives rise to the suspicion that the staff found guilty of selling alcohol to minors are from either columbo, trincomalee or ankara.

Must be something else then ;)

check out details of all the shops that have had licenses suspended, withdrawn or been fined in the sussex area in the last two years, apart from some major national chain stores my comment stands, if you do not want to bother with that simply walk into ANY local alcohol outlet including convenience stores who have disproportionatly large alcohol shelfspace. as somebody that is well aquanted with the running and ownership of this type of store many of which are not actually owned by the "owner" behind the counter but funded and owned by people who do not wish to be seen to be openly connected with the property.
my point is that when the local authorities hand out licences like confetti to people who do not speak english as a first language and often have only recently arrived in this country then these types of problems will exist, it goes hand in glove with a whole host of other matters that I will not go into, but having dealt with these types of outlets and the people involved for over thirty years I know what I am talking about.

John Steed wrote:

mimseycal wrote:

John Steed wrote:
far better to watch the shops, that way they can catch the real offenders and those who buy ciggies and booze on behalf of youngsters and those whostart selling in the morning before they should. but of course the real criminals are the local authority licensing departments who hand out licenses to any applicant straight of the plane from columbo, trincomalee or ankara

Nothing in the article gives rise to the suspicion that the staff found guilty of selling alcohol to minors are from either columbo, trincomalee or ankara.

Must be something else then ;)

check out details of all the shops that have had licenses suspended, withdrawn or been fined in the sussex area in the last two years, apart from some major national chain stores my comment stands, if you do not want to bother with that simply walk into ANY local alcohol outlet including convenience stores who have disproportionatly large alcohol shelfspace. as somebody that is well aquanted with the running and ownership of this type of store many of which are not actually owned by the "owner" behind the counter but funded and owned by people who do not wish to be seen to be openly connected with the property.
my point is that when the local authorities hand out licences like confetti to people who do not speak english as a first language and often have only recently arrived in this country then these types of problems will exist, it goes hand in glove with a whole host of other matters that I will not go into, but having dealt with these types of outlets and the people involved for over thirty years I know what I am talking about.

If people weren't interested in having easy access to alcohol, then I am sure the number of outlets offering alcohol for sale would drop dramatically.

Maybe the application process for Alcohol licences does need an overhaul. Though I fail to see where the requirement to speak English as your first language would stop the sale of alcohol to minors completely.

Having said that, there are a number of interesting issues raised by your rather generalised conclusions. Generalisations are all very well but when they are used to justify an amoral stance, especially while hiding behind the cloak of anonymity, they need to be challenged. If only for the sake of balance ;)

Nothing in the article indicates that the shops concerned were owned by, or run by, individuals from columbo, trincomalee or ankara.
In fact, there are probably less grounds for assuming they are, based on the article we are commenting on, then there are for assuming you are a Far Right Extremist based on the tone of your post.

Oh and as a final word, statements are meaningful only if it is possible to establish whether they are true or false. Your cloak of anonymity means that your statement, and I quote, "having dealt with these types of outlets and the people involved for over thirty years I know what I am talking about" cannot be verified and I will therefore disregard it ;)

It has always happened and always will.You Brits worry too much about unimportant things.That's why serious offenders like Jimmy Saville go unnoticed.You are too busy with speeding motorists,putting rubbish in the right bins and teenagers trying to buy a bottle of pomagne.
No wonder your country is so messed up.