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Summary for: Czech police see surge in underage drinking during summer checksPolice found 606 children and teenagers under the influence of alcohol during summer inspections across Czechia, including 38 younger than 15. Some required ambulance transport to a hospital.
The total rose from 520 last year, although officers also conducted more checks. Between mid-June and mid-September, authorities checked 13,525 people and approximately 1,900 restaurants, bars and clubs.
The operation found that minors could obtain alcohol both from businesses and from friends, relatives or others around them. In Prague, one child recorded an alcohol reading of 3.35 per mille—the highest reported during the inspections.
Prague cases required medical assistance
Officers recorded that highest reading at Chaplinovo náměstí in Prague 5. Elsewhere in the capital, a child in Radotín registered 1.67 per mille and was unable to walk, prompting police to call an ambulance.
Another child in Prague 2 was hospitalized after a reading of 2.38 per mille. Police repeatedly encountered minors with readings above two per mille, while four children also tested positive for narcotic or psychotropic substances.
“This year we checked more people than in any of the past 10 years,” said Petr Koutný, director of the public order police. “What concerns me most, however, are readings above two per mille in children for whom we had to call an ambulance.”
Koutný said alcohol often came from celebrations, friends or even parents. Police intend to pay greater attention to parents who underestimate the risks.
Some children told officers they had taken beer at family celebrations without their parents’ knowledge. Others obtained alcohol in bars or restaurants.
The increase in recorded cases does not, by itself, establish a nationwide rise in underage drinking. Officers checked 13,525 people this year, compared with 12,408 last year, and the operation targeted particular venues and situations.
Undercover purchases expose failures by sellers
Separate checks by the Czech Trade Inspection Authority used under-18 test purchasers in 318 inspections. Businesses sold or served them alcohol in 154 cases—approximately 48 percent of those checks.
In 20 cases, sellers also supplied tobacco or nicotine products. Inspectors additionally found four instances in which the person selling or serving alcohol was themselves younger than 18.
The inspectorate has so far imposed 14 fines totaling CZK 258,000, with further cases subject to administrative proceedings.
Across the wider operation, police identified 945 administrative offenses, more than half involving alcohol, tobacco or other addictive substances. They also recorded suspicions of 21 criminal offenses related to alcohol and drugs and detained 60 people.
The joint inspections involved police, customs officers, public health officials, trade inspectors and social workers. Authorities said the findings showed that restrictions on supplying alcohol and nicotine products to minors were still being breached, both in commercial settings and through informal access.
