FRIDAY night. The first summer's evening of the year - something that most people look forward to.

But for Runcorn Police Community Action Team, summer is the worst time of year.

Lighter nights mean more underage drinking.

Which means more fights, more vandalism, more intimidation, more intoxicated teens and more embarrassed parents.

"If we could stop adults buying drink for teenagers then our problems would be halved," PC Neil Burdekin tells me as I join CAT officers to see the problems they have to deal first hand.

"We have a good relationship with most of the young people round here but once the booze kicks in, they cause all sorts of problems and we have to fall out with them."

The challenge tonight is for CAT officers to crackdown on a minority of drinkers ruining the quality of life for the majority.

It's only 9pm when we come across our first serious case of the night.

A 14-year-old girl has been found sprawled out on the pavement by a bus-stop, barely able to talk, let alone walk.

Her parents think she is in Frodsham at her friend's sleep-over but the intoxicated teen, who has been abandoned in the street by her 'mates', is not so much sleeping as comatose.

"This is the sort of thing we deal with all the time," says PC Burdekin, who has been a policeman for 17 years.

"We aren't trying to spoil kids' fun but this a real danger. She is miles from home, late at night, and is barely conscious. I would love to make an example of whoever supplied her with alcohol," he said.

Adults buying booze for children is a serious problem for the police who have to deal with the after-effects.

The young girl was taken home by PC Burdekin and PC Steve Whittaker. The parents were out so the officers had to speak to them the next day.

"They were very embarrassed and apologetic but it's a shame their daughter wasn't. She did not seem to realise the trouble she had caused," PC Burdekin says. "If we catch her drunk again, there will not be the same softly-softly approach. She will probably be arrested."

The Friday night that I am out on patrol is a relatively quiet one. Sometimes the teams work right through to midnight dealing with kids as young as eight or nine.

Good intelligence has allowed each of the five community action teams to cover particular areas at certain times, providing a deterrent to the young drinkers and a reassurance to local residents.

More than 40 cans of beer are taken from one gang of lads at a park in Leinster Gardens. They run off when they spot us.

Another chase, this time up Runcorn Hill, ends in another haul of strong lager.

In total, there are perhaps a dozen incidents across our sector but it feels like more.

Most of the teenagers we come across are friendly, if a little cocky, enjoying banter with the officers about previous 'run-ins' with them.

It is the adults that the CAT really want to get the message to; stop selling booze to kids, stop buying booze for kids and for parents to start learning what their kids are doing.

"The police get a lot of stick but we are only trying to help," PC Whittaker says.

"At the end of the day, when a drunk kids gets beaten up, robbed, or worse, it will be us that their parents come to wanting help."

He continued: "I absolutely love my job though. It's varied, enjoyable, challenging and you can really see the difference that we make. The problems are always on-going but it's very satisfying getting out and about in the community."

He added: "It is what people pay their taxes for. But it is a constant problem that people need educating about."