THE teenage girl must have been 15, at a push. Wearing tracksuit bottoms, a huge coat and an angry expression, she didn't look out of place at 8.30pm on Darwen's main street.

What Sgt Ian Hanson spotted straight away though was the bottle in her hand. Containing a bright orange fluid, it is instantly recognisable as an alcopop.

Without even looking at him, without even walking any faster, she approaches the car and simply hands the bottle over. Then, she carries on, as if nothing has happened.

Sgt Hanson is a happy man. "It shows this is working," he laughed. "She knew as soon as she saw us she shouldn't have it with her and handed it over without question. That's the response I wanted. People know we are out."

Two hours earlier, Sgt Hanson had briefed a team of around a dozen officers on the night's operation.

They were to spend the evening patrolling the St James' and Ellenshaw estates looking for youngsters drinking alcohol.

The alcohol would be tipped down the drain in front of them and, if drunk, the youngsters would be escorted back home.

Youngsters who wanted to keep hold of their drink would be arrested and taken to the police station for their parents to collect them.

Sgt Hanson said: "It is the start of the summer, a warm evening, and there are bound to be youngsters out drinking.

"We are not here to hassle youngsters for the sake of it, and if people ring to complain there is a gang of youngsters in their street we won't do anything unless they are doing something wrong.

"But drinking is where a lot of the juvenile nuisance problems start. They become rowdy and it can trigger things off. I want to stamp it out before the summer starts and help improve the quality of life for residents in the area."

Since the start of the year, 53 reports of juvenile nuisance have been logged by police on the estate.

The area hit the headlines for its' juvenile problems back in January when the so-called Pied Piper of the area, 15-year-old Lee Taylor, was hit with an Anti-Social Behaviour Order after being accused to leading local youngsters astray.

He was banned from the area. He was also banned from being drunk on the streets of Darwen. The court which dealt out the order was told he was regularly found drunk by officers.

To prove the operation was working, the officers all wore high-visibility jackets.

And within ten minutes of leaving the police station, Sgt Hanson finds his first teeny drinkers.

Two teenagers swaggering. Both swore blind they were 18 but they soon admitted otherwise. Initially, they denied having any alcohol, insisting that the contents of their coke bottle was just coke.

It wasn't -- it reeked of Vodka."You can't drink the streets, and tell your friends the same," said Sgt Hanson to the bemused youngsters, who by now had been stunned into silence.

The trick of dropping vodka into a coke bottle is an old one -- and one Sgt Hanson became very familiar with last year. Then, he was the area sergeant for Oswaldtwistle, a town gripped by juvenile nuisance. Youngsters there were told to stop drinking and start behaving. They did, even though dozens had to be taken to the police station in the process. The high-profile operation was short but sweet -- very rarely are their juvenile nuisance problems in the town now.

Part of that is thanks to the way the police speak to the youngsters. "We don't shout at them if they aren't doing anything wrong," said Sgt Hanson. "We talk to them, explain what we are doing and make sure they know what they can't do."

Twin Valley Homes, the area's major landlord, is behind the scheme. Phil Richards, chief executive, said: "We support the police in their actions to help over come the problems caused by juvenile nuisance as it will help to make our homes better places for people to live."