POLICE in Worcestershire have backed a national call to tackle the problem of drink related crime by taking part in a weekend of action on alcohol.

The call came from the Association of Chief Officers (ACPO), which is concerned that police around the country still have to pull officers from other duties to deal with the drunk and disorderly in town centres late at night and over weekends.

The weekend of action begins today (Friday) and will see police carrying out work focussing on alcohol related crime and encouraging people to think about their alcohol consumption and the impact this has on others.

The move comes just weeks after a mass brawl broke out in Worcester city centre in the early hours of August Bank Holiday Monday.

The fight, involving drunken revellers, was sparked by police officers speaking to an individual about being too drunk. What followed was chaos with people unconnected to the person deciding they "wanted to fight the police”.

As a result of the large scale disruption officers from the Operation Patrol Unit, Central Motorway Police Group and police dog handlers were called to the scene around 4am and many of the police officers were assaulted, with several sustaining minor injuries.

Figures from West Mercia Police show that despite a fall of 11 per cent in violent crimes, 37 per cent of all violent crime between April 2013 and March 2014 involved alcohol.

In South Worcestershire the figure was slightly higher with 1,010 (39 per cent) of the 2,565 violent crimes involving alcohol.

Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Morgan is keen to address the issue.

He said: "There were over 1,300 fewer recorded violent crimes in the West Mercia area last year compared to two years before.

"We’ve done a lot of work to address this issue and it is clear we are having success.

"However, we are still spending too much of our time dealing with alcohol related violent crime, both in people’s homes and in public. This is time we could better spend preventing crime, catching criminals and protecting people from harm.

"It is only a minority who don’t know how to behave after a few drinks, the majority of people in the West Mercia area can have a good time without wanting to cause harm to others. The people who are regularly causing trouble know who they are and there is help available if they feel they can’t change their drinking habits on their own."