A CRACKDOWN on drink-related crime in Andover has worked with police reporting a quiet Christmas and New Year period.

The number of substance-related violent crimes committed in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight dropped by 14 per cent this Christmas.

In December 2007 there were 1,215 substance-related violent crimes but in December 2008 there were 1,048 substance-related violent crimes – a reduction of 167 crimes.

Hampshire Constabulary’s chief constable Alex Marshall said: “This is a great result for all the police officers that were out on the streets this Christmas and we will continue to work to further reduce the number of incidents across the force.

“Alcohol-related violence occupies many hours of my officer’s time and we receive calls everyday where alcohol is the root of the problem.

“I’d prefer my police officers to be out patrolling neighbourhoods across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, catching burglars and preventing crime from happening in the first place.”

Reducing alcohol-related violent crime was Hampshire Constabulary’s priority throughout this December.

As part of this crackdown, posters with the tagline Offender or Victim? How will your night end? were displayed on the sides of huge vans which travelled around the county throughout December, including Andover.

The vans targeted areas across Hampshire where revellers were out celebrating the festive season.

The posters contained hard-hitting images showing the same person being both the aggressor and the victim with injuries that could have been sustained in a drunken brawl.

Extra police patrols were also out during the run-up to the festive period in Andover.

Andover experienced a quiet Christmas and a spokeswoman said that over the New Year the town’s officers dealt with only a slight increase in drink-related incidents compared with a normal week.