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Last year, a worrying example of police treatment of a woman, who had been drinking and was later convicted of criminal damage, came to light after it was caught on CCTV. Toni Comer, a 19-year-old, had been thrown out of a nightclub in Sheffield for being aggressive, and then damaged a vehicle in a car park. The police were called and several officers held her down, while one repeatedly hit her. She was then hauled, limp, to a waiting police van, her trousers round her ankles. She made a complaint against the police but an official inquiry found that the officers' use of force had been justified. When I wrote about the case last year, several police officers said that dealing with a drunk woman was far worse than dealing with a drunk man. "You use reasonable force to restrain someone," said one, "whether you're dealing with a man or a woman. And I've seen women who can fight back better than most men."



On Broad Street, which has a very visible police presence (although I can see only a few female police officers), they seem to agree. "The women are far worse in fights," says a constable who asks not to be named. "They're more feisty. If you try and break it up, they'll try and fight back." Even if they're small and you get two or more male police officers restraining them? "Yes, they'll give it all they've got."



It is not yet 9pm and there are two young women sitting on a kerb, shouting to passers-by, asking for a light. The contents of one of their handbags - including a small bottle of cheap vodka - spill out on to the pavement. They say they are 18, but neither have ID and they have been refused entry to lots of bars on the street; I think they look younger. I ask them if they have ever had any contact with the police.



"Yeah," says one of them, who introduces herself as Amie, with a smile that suggests she is as proud as she is embarrassed. "I started a fight with this girl in there once." She points to a branch of Walkabout, the Australian-themed chain bar. "She gave me a dirty look so I went for her. The police came and about four policemen grabbed me. One pulled my hands behind my back and they took me outside and slammed me against the police car. I was kicking and screaming and one of them was shouting, 'Calm down, you little slag.' I kicked one of them and they were like, 'Right, that's it, we're arresting you.' I spent the night in the cell." Does she think the police treat the women here more harshly than the men? "I don't know. They were harsh with me," she says.

'The women? They're far worse in fights'



The number of women being arrested for late-night drunken behaviour, particularly in the West Midlands, is soaring. But are they really becoming more violent - or are the police just treating them more harshly? Emine Saner looks for answers on a Saturday night in Birmingham's notorious Broad Street

streets might be more violent as alcohol-fuelled people hit the town and start trouble, but bar owners say most of the trouble remains outside -- not in their bars.



Gisborne experienced a 9.6 percent increase in violence last year. Police attribute the majority of that increase to family violence, but a great deal can be attributed to intoxicated people starting fights on the city's streets.