Inspector Gordon Smith, who took up his post in Newton Stewart over a month ago after working around Dumfries previously, said he is constantly having to "pick up the pieces" of teenage drinking but that the problem could be nipped in the bud before it gets out of hand if parents take a more active role in keeping an eye on their children.
The inspector told members of Newton Stewart Business Association at their AGM on Monday night that he is aware of businesses in the town being affected by the issue through litter, vandalism and anti-social behaviour and that while the police are there to reduce crime, they can't be parents to all the underage drinkers.
Having taken vast amounts of alcohol from groups of underagers around the time of last weekend's Creetown Country Festival, Inspector Smith said: "I can take drink off kids until the cows come home but I can't be the parent educating them from an early age.
"I was pleased to see a letter in The Galloway Gazette last week from a member of the public asking parents to ensure they know what their kids are doing."
One local businesswoman brought up the issue of people congregating on The Cinema steps throughout the day and asked if there was something that could be done.
She said: "It's day after day, they sit there drinking, swearing, heckling passers-by and leaving rubbish behind them.
"It's so off-putting having to walk past."
Inspector Smith explained that people often expect police to stop and search drug-users on the street but that without specific intelligence having been passed to them to give them reason to suspect them of something, they can't do that.
He said: "We can't just search anyone when we feel like it, contrary to popular belief.
"But if these people are abusing people on the street or swearing then that would constitute a breach of the peace, but we need to be told of it as it happens and not later on.
"If the public don't tell me there's a problem, I can't do anything about it."
Several business folk from the town brought up the issue of slow response times from the time of a call to when the police arrive at an incident.
The inspector replied that response times are only measured when it is an emergency call but explained that the area covered by his officers is the second largest in Scotland and that it can take 45 minutes to get from Glentrool to Whithorn for example.
He said: "Our response time can be slow but when you consider the beat we have to cover, this is understandable."
One further issue raised was that people trying to contact Newton Stewart Police Station are angered at having to use the new number instead of calling a local one and getting straight through.
Inspector Smith said: "The problem before was that not many calls were being answered because we just didn't have the staff.
"But now, 95 per cent of calls to the force are answered via the new number so we think it's a success."
He finished by telling members that a new CCTV facility looks set to go ahead soon which will be fully digital and up-to-date.