Over a dozen children who should have been in school, were found to be on the streets in Pembroke Dock one day last week.
The children were apprehended during a 'truancy sweep' by authorities on Wednesday.
Fifteen children - some of them with their parents – were questioned before being returned to school. Several had been allowed to stay home by their parents without good reason.
Police officers, pupil support officers from Pembrokeshire County Council and members of the county's youth offending team took part in the crackdown, part of the Welsh Assembly Government's Truancy Initiative Week, aimed at highlighting the problem in the Principality.
Said Clr. John Davies, the county council cabinet member with responsibility for children, young people and the Welsh language: "Although school attendance levels across Pembrokeshire are generally better than the Welsh average, there is a small core of persistent truants and some parents who allow their children to stay at home when they should be in school.
"There are a number of options that we, as the Local Education Authority, can choose in tackling truancy. One of these is prosecuting parents who regularly fail to send their children to school."
Pupil support officers will be undertaking follow-up work with a number of the children and parents spoken to last week and it is likely that further 'truancy sweeps' will be held elsewhere in the county in the future.