A church-run drying out centre in the Highland city of Inverness is struggling to cope with the increasing demand for its bed spaces as the problem of alcohol abuse continues to grow.
The admission comes after the city’s police expressed their alarm over the growing number of cases of drunk and incapable people detained after being found on the streets of the city.Last Monday alone, ten people were detained by police in separate incidents across the city after being found by police to be so drunk that they were unable to care for themselves. The high number on a weekday shocked even experienced local policemen, Highland News reported.
Chief inspector of operations for Inverness area command, Donald Buntain, called for more to be done than simply locking up drunks in cells while expressing his alarm that so many incidents had taken place on a weekday rather than at the weekend.
"It is a reflection of how serious the problem of alcohol abuse has become."
Chief Inspector Buntain said: "There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of cases dealt with by the police where people have been so drunk they cannot care from themselves properly.
"To have 10 people detained as a result of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol in a 24-hour period is shocking enough. But when you discover this was a Monday and not during the weekend, it makes it even more startling.
"It doesn't mean that 10 were the only drunk and incapable folk that day. It just means these were the ones who didn't have anyone to care for them and get them home safely."To have 10 people detained as a result of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol in a 24-hour period is shocking enough. But when you discover this was a Monday and not during the weekend, it makes it even more startling.
Chief Inspector Donald Buntain
Inverness police send the drunk and incapable that they find on the streets of the city to the drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre Beechwood House, run by the Church of Scotland and part funded by Highland Council.
Ch Insp Buntain said, however, that if Beechwood House was full then the police had to take them to the cells for their own protection.
He reported that the number of alcohol abuse cases had risen over the span of his career.
"I have been a policeman for 30 years and watched the amount of cases dealt with by the police increase gradually, and it is now a serious public issue.
