Officers from the Meon Valley South Safer Neighbourhoods Team launched two operations after reports of rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour in villages including Denmead, Knowle and Whiteley.

Operation Bounce and Operation Focus were carried out by officers after police had noticed a number of groups of youths in the late evening and early morning who were gathering outside shops, in the street and at recreation grounds.

Although the vast majority of youths that gathered in these areas did not cause trouble, there was a small minority who took part in anti-social behaviour such as under-age drinking, criminal damage and making a disruptive noise.

During the operations they completed 41 stop-and-search procedures which resulted in 15 alcohol seizures over the summer.

Sergeant Chris Stanton, in charge of the Meon Valley South neighbourhood policing team, said: 'These types of operations show that we will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in our communities.

'Now that these operations have finished, we have had time to reflect upon the results and we feel that the operations have contributed significantly to the low levels of anti-social behaviour we currently have.

'However, we recognise that this is an ongoing process and we will continue to target our resources where they will be most effective,' added Sgt Stanton.

'These operations show that we deal with complaints seriously and I would urge the community to continue contacting us about any problems they have by using the 101 phone number or e-mailing my team.'

Officers hit known hot spots on 19 separate days throughout the school holidays.

Operation Focus is a Winchester district operation.

It saw dedicated teams of officers patrolling hot spots throughout the entire district.

Operation Bounce was a similar operation, set up by Sgt Stanton specifically for his team's area.

Carrying out both operations over the summer enabled officers to target potential trouble-spots on a more regular basis.

chris.broom@thenews.co.uk