POLICE and council workers will join forces in a bid to curb weekend anti-social behaviour on the streets of Darlington.

Launching tomorrow night, Operation Stay Safe will target young people in hot-spot areas to get rowdy, drunk and drug-using youths off the streets and into a place of safety.

Police officers will be patrolling the streets and the Community Safety Van will be in the Neasham Road, Victoria Embankment and North Road areas, to respond to incidents.

Young people found to be behaving anti-socially, drinking alcohol or using drugs will be spoken to by officers and either escorted home or taken to a place of safety, from where their parents, or an appropriate adult will be able to collect them.

Depending on individual incidents, the young people involved will be spoken to and provided with help or intervention where necessary.

The operation will see the police and Darlington Borough Council’s youth services, anti-social behaviour team and uniformed wardens working together.

It is part of Darlington Community Safety Partnership's drive to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour, make sure young people are safe on the streets during the weekends and reassure residents issues are being dealt with.

Inspector Alison Jackson said: "Anti social behaviour presents one of the greatest risks to public confidence and it is therefore vitally important that we deal with all incidences robustly.

“Friday and Saturday nights are generally busy for our officers without the additional burden of dealing with young people who are causing alarm and distress to local people.

"Through Operation Staysafe we will ensure that young people involved in disorder are appropriately dealt with and that those at risk to themselves through alcohol or drug abuse, get the relevant support and intervention to keep them safe from harm."

Bill Dixon, the council's cabinet member for neighbourhood services and community safety, said: "This operation is all about the relevant agencies coming together to make sure young people are safe and behaving appropriately on our streets, so they're not affecting other people's lives by being noisy, drunk or causing damage to property.

"We want young people to be safe and know there are things for them to do, other than hanging around drinking and causing trouble. We also want local people to know that where there are issues, we are tackling them."