"WHERE are your children tonight?" That's the question members of York Police are asking parents right across the city in a bid to tackle the growing problem of nuisance on the streets.

Senior officers believe that antisocial behaviour involving youths and associated crimes such as vandalism, theft and disorder are the number one priority for many residents.

Every night patrols find gangs of youngsters gathering in playgrounds, on street corners, outside convenience stores and on disused ground.

They may not be involved in crime, but many of them are drinking illegally, and officers fear that alcohol, boredom and peer pressure among the group are a potentially explosive combination.

Now community PC Dave White is leading a crackdown on street problems. He hopes to bring together the police, schools and parents to help target the troubled minority who give the majority a bad name.

"Parents of some York teenagers don't know what their kids get up to on the streets in the evening. Normally pleasant areas are spoiled by groups of young people who appear to threaten others," he said.

"Drink is responsible for many reported incidents and North Yorkshire Police are cracking down on both the young people responsible and on shopkeepers who sell alcohol to under-age drinkers."

York Police have created a database, named Nipper. It brings together all the information gathered about children who are involved in antisocial behaviour for the first time.

Young people stopped by the police will be given a Youth Action Form which triggers a letter to their parents and school.

Because officers and senior teachers believe there is a link between misbehaviour on the streets, all 11 York secondary schools have agreed to back the scheme with action of their own.

Persistent misbehaviour may result in children being closely monitored by teachers, and youngsters could ultimately face the threat of an antisocial behaviour order, or ASBO, being imposed upon them.

PC White said the first letter serves as a warning, but further action could lead to the courts. He added that council tenants could face eviction if they are found to be persistent offenders.

He said: "If parents ignore this responsibility it may cost them. In time and inconvenience, maybe financially or worse by facing the loss of your home, if you do not take control of your child's activities in the community."

There is no suggestion that any individual child seen here is an under-age drinker, but the youngsters were pictured because the group they were in was being challenged about under-age drinking.

Updated: 12:25 Monday, July 05, 2004