A chief constable has called for a ban on drinking in public areas outdoors to help combat underage alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour
Peter Fahy, of Cheshire police, spoke after three boys appeared in court charged with the murder of a man on a street in Warrington.
Mr Fahy also said the legal drinking age should be raised from 18 to 21.
"Alcohol is too cheap and too readily available and is too strong. Young people cannot handle it," he added.
'Social responsibility'
The chief constable said he wanted to reverse the situation whereby public drinking was legal unless councils voted to ban it in specific areas.
He said: "I would like to see the emphasis change the other way, where we say drinking in public is not permitted apart from those areas where a local community, local authorities say 'yes, in this particular park, this particular location, people can drink'.
"It's that sort of thing which starts changing the popular culture, which starts getting the message across."
Mr Fahy condemned parents for "turning a blind eye" to their children's underage drinking and anti-social behaviour saying "a hardcore" of parents "abdicated" their responsibility.
The chief constable said alcohol was fuelling a wave of violence and disorder across the country and that treating the issue of anti-social behaviour by teenagers as a problem for police to solve alone "was naive" .
The chief constable said the price of alcohol should be raised
"We are doing everything we can, within our resources and powers, but it is not enough," he said.
Britain should act "as a nation" to beat the "scourge of anti-social behaviour by young people", he added.
He called for those who sell alcohol to young people, "those who promote alcohol as glamorous" and "teenagers who ignore the rights of others to live without intimidation or abuse" needed to "rack their conscience" and consider their duty.
The problem was not with extended pub licensing hours, he said, but with shops and supermarkets which sold alcohol to underage youths who then congregated outdoors in groups.
He wants police to be given powers to order groups of rowdy young people home and to see an increase in the price of alcohol.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme raising the age limit to 21 would send "a clear message about the dangers" of drinking.
But Home Office minister Meg Hillier dismissed the idea of raising the drinking age.
She said: "People are getting hold of alcohol under 18. If we raise the age to 21 it's not going to stop people managing to get hold of alcohol.
"We have this attitude that it's OK to go out and get plastered, publicly and privately.
"It's not something that government or legislation or the police alone can solve; it's much more of an attitude in society.
"In the end, the buck will stop with parents," she said.
Mr Fahy spoke after the murder of Garry Newlove, 47, who died after approaching a group of youths in Warrington, Cheshire.
The father-of-three was taken to hospital but died on Sunday afternoon.
Four teenagers have been charged with Mr Newlove's murder. Two teenagers remain in police custody for questioning.
First published on the bbc news site|