Parents could be shown footage of their children causing trouble, thanks to cameras which will be attached to police body armour.

Thames Valley Police officers in the Vale of White Horse - which covers Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage - will have 10 cameras, with a further 10 available in South Oxfordshire - which includes Didcot and Wallingford.

The £850 gadgets, called Body Worn Video Recording cameras (BWVRc), will be used by officers to curb a range of offences, including antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related crimes - including underage drinking.

Sgt Fraser Weller said officers would be taking underage drinkers home to their parents as part of a new initiative to help educate parents and youngsters about their behaviour.

And he said parents could even be shown footage.

He said: "Parents do not like being told by other people how their children have misbehaved. We are going to start taking them home to see what sort of result we get.

"We want to adopt an appropriate response to problems of antisocial behaviour, not a zero tolerance policy.

"If you go in too hard to start with, you have nowhere to go. If education doesn't work, we can step it up a gear and normally we would have more intelligence at that point.

"We are mainly looking at targeting our resources to make sure we have the right resources to deal with the problems that we get - particularly in the mid-to-late afternoon, and into the evening."

The cameras, which will be attached to officers' stab vests, will not be clearly visible.

Sgt Charlie Pollard said they would also be used to disperse large crowds of troublemakers, often found in town centres.

She said: "It will help with combating public order offences. The main benefit will be to help preserve evidence.

"We have excellent CCTV anyway but this will help to give us extra evidence.

"It will be used in town centres and in areas where we have problems with large crowds."

Pc Simon Charlton said: "It will act as a massive deterrent and will reduce antisocial behaviour."

The cameras will be used in the summer, once officers are fully trained in their use.

Head cameras have been used by police on the beat in East Oxford since last September.

They were funded by the Nightsafe scheme, which promotes safety in Oxford.