Residents of Portland put their questions to Dorset’s police and crime commissioner about the ‘nightmare yobs' blighting their neighbourhoods.

More than 20 members of the public attended the meeting to put their questions about police staffing and anti-social behaviour to David Sidwick - Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset.

This comes after a previous meeting where anti-social behaviour, particularly in Easton Square, was put to the council by concerned members of the public. This included behaviour such as fighting, eggs being hurled at homes and bottles being smashed.

Questions mainly concerned what was being done and general frustrations in attempting to report the anti-social behaviour.

One resident said: “I first saw these yobs about two years ago but after two weeks I knew our quality of life was going to change.

“They have no respect for us or our quality of life. I am concerned at night time, we can't do anything without the support of the police.”

Another resident said: “If I had a pound every time my door was knocked, I wouldn’t be Elon Musk, but I would be rich.

“There are elderly people getting to be very frail in this area and I am anxious for their welfare.”

Mr Sidwick said: “To me, it is unacceptable that there is a small number of young people who are holding the rest of the community to ransom and I want to sort it.

“We have got to do better to make certain Portland has respite from this situation and that those people causing the grief for you so we can sort out for the short term and the long term.

“If you call 999 and someone doesn’t turn up I want to know about it. That is what I am here for.”

Chief Inspector Andy Edwards and PC Holly Damen joined Mr Sidwick in answering questions from the public.

Dorset Echo:

Chief Inspector Andy Edwards urged residents not to stop reporting the behaviour: "Reporting is critically important. The point of reporting is that when you report something it gives us an idea of what is happening, and we allocate our resources accordingly.

“If there is a crime in progress call 999. Don’t call 101 unless it is a genuine non-emergency."

In reply to questions about police staffing and availability on the island, Mr Edwards replied: "Threat, risk and harm of incidents are assessed with those across the county and we allocated resources.

"We can still seek a wider pool of resources than just the neighbourhood team. It is not just PC Billy."

It was also announced that a police bid was approved for a second mobile camera - to be erected on Thursday- at Easton Gardens. Easton Gardens was also added as an area for operation 'Turn-out', which involves targeted patrols on specific areas.

Holly Damen from neighbourhood policing said: "Part of the problem is that we can’t keep you as updated as we would like.

"We as the neighbourhood policing team know who you are talking about and have plans in place to engage those individuals."

Mr Sidwick also emphasised a need for cooperation between organisations to tackle the 'wicked' problem of anti-social behaviour, such as with the town council, schools and The Drop In.