I WROTE this after waking up to the news there’s been an attempted murder in my town – in the early hours a short walk from where I live.

This isn’t uncommon these days sadly. Bournemouth town centre – once a wonderful, clean, crime free town has become the wild west in recent years.

It is not a safe place to be in the day, let alone in the evening and early hours. My wife no longer feels safe waking through the gardens alone or going for a morning run. I witness drug deals in broad daylight every day, the majority next to a children’s park by me.

Intoxicated people hassling, shouting and intimidating locals. People lying in doorways, passed out along the street. Tourists who have been coming to Bournemouth for years ask me frequently what’s happened to our town? I know there are many issues in society and they may not have the numbers they once had but where is police presence in our town these days? I don’t see any, day or night.

I see plenty of police cars and officers on the scene after the crime has been committed but it’s too late – where is the deterrent? It would not take too much to clean up our town.

Police on the beat would stop the majority of the antisocial behaviour and might stop us waking up to the news that another young person is fighting for their lives. The police need to be proactively stopping crime - not reacting after the crime has been committed.

Please can we get more police back on the streets and help get Bournemouth back to where it once was?

WAYNE SHIRLEY

Surrey Road, Bournemouth