Just how do you deal with the problem and, more importantly, how do you solve it? (From Warrington Guardian)

Just how do you deal with the problem and, more importantly, how do you solve it?

I've been invited to join Runcorn's community action team (CAT), who are a mix of youthful PCs and older community support officers, as they launch Operation Nettle.

The 'sting' is in Higher Runcorn and the Old Town where there have been reports of large numbers of congregating teenagers.

Sgt Karen Jaundrill, 29, fixed up this operation to blitz several youth hotspots, especially the subway under the Spur Road which caught her attention last week.

"It was like nothing I've ever seen before," she said. "There must have been 150 kids packed into this little alleyway.

"Most of them weren't doing anything wrong. But a couple had to go to hospital because they were absolutely paralytic."

She added: "Some parents, when you take the kids home drunk, are watching Eastenders and they don't really give two hoots - their attitude is 'what are you telling me for'?"

We first come across two girls carrying bags full of booze trying to sidle away up Okell Street as we pull up.

Their father comes to pick them up but this is a typical problem for the team. If older relatives buy drink for younger ones or cover up for them, what can the police do?

Sgt Jaundrill says: "This type of community work is more frustrating than response policing because we can see what's going on but we don't always have the power to act."

For the police to tackle the problem effectively, they need the co-operation of councillors, off licenses, parents and the community as a whole.

"If you talk to the kids like they are human beings they are alright," said tall 6ft 4ins PC Alan Woolf.

Sgt Jaundrill agreed but said: "Others don't want to know, they just give you abuse."

Next we call in at a newsagent in Higher Runcorn because the owner fears the teenagers hanging round outside are deterring potential customers.

Sgt Jaundrill has to explain to him why there are no lights in Rock Park for the kids to play football and why there are problems with the police call handling centre - both problems beyond her control.

And as the shopkeeper's son points out: "The police move them on but then they become somebody else's problem. It's like a circle."

We move on to the Old Town, where a 'boy racer' is stopped by the Union Tavern only to sheepishly reveal he was trying to get his pizzas home before they went cold.

On Mersey Road, we meet up with some CSOs who've made friends with a gang of cheeky, but friendly teenage boys.

"Joining the police was something I always wanted to do," said CSO Paul Downing, aged 43, a former Cable and Wireless worker. "I have no regrets. I go home and if I've made a difference that day, it's great."

The CSOs have limited powers and equipment compared to the police but their role is more about talking to people than arresting them. Enthusiasm and humour are their weapons, not CS spray and extendable batons.

As the night wears on and it becomes clear most of the kids have stayed at home, the team are called to a couple of more serious incidents.

A man in his 60s is found collapsed outside the old police station - he's had a bad day with the wife and needed a drink. He needs reassuring that he is not in trouble and can accept a lift home.

Then we're called to a home in the Old Town where a woman in her 70s with dementia has been throwing plates at her husband and daughter, the day after being released from the Brooker Centre.

The CAT team have impossible demands, limited resources and legal frustrations. But by aiming high, they are making a difference.

CSO Gary Buckles sums it up well: "Our main job is making people's lives better. If that means moving on a few kids because they are outside your house drinking, so be it. It's about quality of life, so you can go outside your house, whether you are young or old, and just live your life."