A RESIDENT has said their daughter is terrified about what is going on outside her front door with one man seen injecting himself with heroin outside in the street.
The resident who has lived in the area for five years says drug dealing in Springbourne has increased in recent months after a temporary CCTV camera was removed from Curzon Road.
But there could be some good news, with one ward councillor saying a camera could be brought back in light of the ongoing issues.
The resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “We bought our house in Springbourne five years ago and on the day we moved in there was someone with his trousers down injecting himself with heroin.
“The problems only became worse. The amount of drug dealing increased and we would regularly see used needles on the pavement.
“With the help of another resident and over the course of several months we sent hundreds of emails to the police and local councillors asking for CCTV to be installed on Curzon Road opposite the church and eventually a temporary camera was finally installed.
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“This was up for less than a year before being moved further down the road and away from the main area where the dealing takes place.
“Since the camera has gone, the dealing has increased to the extent where at weekends in particular it is impossible to leave the house without seeing users waiting around for the dealer to arrive.
“The dealers clearly do not fear being caught as they do not even attempt to hide what they are doing.
“These class A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine are generally provided via county lines. We are therefore subjected to dangerous criminals hanging around in a residential neighbourhood.
“This really impacts our quality of life as our teenage daughter will not stay home alone and is understandably terrified about what is going on outside our front door.
“I've come to the conclusion that after living with this for five years there is no political will to resolve the problems and that the council are happy for this to go on in Boscombe and Springbourne as it is then localised and unlikely to take place in more affluent areas.”
Ward councillor David Kelsey said: “It's an ongoing issue that we've had, the police and our ASB team are working very closely together. There is a possibility that we'll put another camera back in there.
“We talk very closely with the residents, we have constant dialogue with them about what's going on there and try to ease their fears. We have regular residents meetings, they keep us updated as much as they can, but I just need to keep urging them that they need to report it as soon as they possibly can.”
Councillor Anne Filer said: “The police are really paying great attention to that part of Springbourne. And there's a couple of other places as well which have got problems, but I would urge residents to get in touch.
“If people report it we can send a whole raft of their messages off to a raft of people and hope that some action will be taken."
Chief Inspector Darren Harris, of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Local Policing Area (LPA), said: “Officers from the local neighbourhood policing team continue to conduct intelligence-led patrols in the Springbourne area, with information reported by members of the community helping us to direct our resources to where they are most needed and we would therefore encourage people to report any issues to us.”
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