Young people in Dunfermline have been learning about the dangers of underage drinking.

Youth volunteers with the Police Scotland Youth Volunteering Programme (PSYV) have also been looking at the role adults play in underage drinking as part of the It’ll Cost You campaign. The campaign was developed by the Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership in collaboration with Police Scotland and Community Alcohol groups.

PSYV aims to strengthen relationships with young people and make communities in Scotland safer.

The youngsters learned about proxy purchasing, which is when a young person who is not old enough to buy alcohol, asks a person over the age of 18 to go into a shop and buy alcohol for them.

Young people may ask family members, friends, older siblings or even strangers to do this for them. Proxy purchasing is illegal, and anyone caught doing it could be fined up to £5,000 and/or face three months in prison.

There are a range of reasons why an adult may agree to buying alcohol for a person under the age of 18.

“Sometimes it could be groups of people and they might feel intimated, sometimes they might not be thinking about the bigger picture, sometimes it could be an associate, a family friend that’s over the age of eighteen who might buy it on their behalf,” said Dunfermline PSYV co-ordinator PC Scott Morgan.

The PSYV created a video campaign which was posted to Police Scotland’s Facebook page to showcase the dangers of proxy purchasing. The video was filmed entirely in Dunfermline.

PC Morgan said: “Our part in the campaign was to highlight it more on social media, bring more attention to the subject matter.”

According to Alcohol and Young People, young teenagers in Scotland are more likely to drink alcohol than smoke cigarettes. Teenagers in the United Kingdom report some of the highest rates of alcohol use in Europe.

Underage drinking can lead to anti-social behaviour which residents may find concerning. 

PC Morgan added: "There’s loads of really good young people out there, but what happens is when alcohol comes into the mix and there’s groups going about their communities, it can be very visible. 

"So we’re trying to give the community a wee bit of reassurance that we’re aware it takes place, we’ve tried to do stuff around it. But there’s actually loads of really good young people out there doing loads of other stuff, like positive activities and positive things in their community."

Police Scotland are currently doing promotions for the PSYV in schools.

“If somebody does want to take part they can contact us through the PSYV.org website and put a notification in, but they need to tell us in their notification why they want to get involved to support the community," said PC Morgan.

“It’s not like joining the police, it’s more about what they want to do as a young person to support their community and bring awareness to trending issues in their community.” 

The PSYV are open to applications from young people aged 13 to 19.