ADULTS who buy booze for children are asking for a fine of up to £5000 or even a jail term - and cops are watching them.

That's the message from a hard-hitting new city-wide campaign that will see police work with retailers to crack down on the crime.

A pilot project saw cuts of up to 41 per cent in targeted areas of the city and the You're Asking For It scheme will be rolled out city-wide.

PC Simon Roy, a constable working with the licensing department, said: "We managed to build up great cooperation with the retailers and from the reports received there was great progress in reducing the availability of alcohol to young people.

"Now we want to take that across the city.

"We have been building up relationships with the retailers and give them the confidence that the police are there for support.

"We are urging them that if they see youngsters, we are urging them to report that."

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Buying booze for youngsters - called proxy purchase - can cause crime, violence and anti-social behaviour in youngsters.

Cops said the summer months can be particularly bad with boozing leading to large scale anti-social behaviour incidents such as those seen in Kelvingrove Park.

It can also make life misery for local communities who have to deal with the consequences of out of control teenagers.

Retailers are being told to look for signs that adults are not buying drink for themselves.

It could be that a regular customer comes in to buy a drink they would not normally buy.

It could also be the case that young people are hanging around outside the shop with no real reason to be there.

Other people might be buying booze with a handful of loose change or might seem unsure of what they are buying.

Simon said: "It is difficult to spot a proxy purchase but you can give a shop keeper some examples of what to look out for an empower them to challenge the person buying and report them to the police."

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A pilot project in Motherwell and Wishaw in 2015 was successful enough that it was rolled out to Leith in 2016.

Due to both pilots, North Lanarkshire Council introduced the scheme across the local authority before it was picked up by Fife, Aberdeenshire and then Glasgow City Council.

A trial in Glasgow last year covered the South East of the city, Glasgow North and Glasgow North West.

In Glasgow South East last year following the campaign there was a 41 per cent reduction in calls to the police involving youths and alcohol.

In Glasgow North, the reduction was 14 per cent.

Simon added: "People don't realise how serious proxy purchase is.

"They think, 'I used to drink when I was underage, it's just a bit of fun,' and they don't realise how serious it is and that proxy purchase is a serious offence.

"This campaign aims to make them aware - and give them no excuse to keep doing it."

The campaign is running with funding from the Scottish Alcohol Industry Partnership.

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Douglas Meikle, Head of Alcohol Policy at the Partnership, said: "We are very happy to be working with Police Scotland on this important campaign."