A WOMAN wept at a meeting last week as she said residents of Springbourne are 'tired and scared' after repeated problems in the area.

The woman, who gave her name only as Stephanie, spoke at a public event held for residents at the Knyveton Gardens Bowling Club on Thursday night.

Responding to a police update about drugs activity in the area, Stephanie said officers called to reports of offences are failing to get out of their vehicles to investigate.

As a result, she said she is now a witness to an attempted rape in the gardens.

"[Officers] don't stop and search," she said.

"Even when I called and had a woman screaming bloody murder for help, they didn't go into the park.

"Now I'm a witness to an attempted rape.

"It's just not ok."

East Bournemouth Neighbourhood Inspector Alan Setchell replied: "I'm not going to stand here and make excuses.

"I won't stand here and try to answer that.

"I can't answer [issues involving] personal circumstances.

"After this meeting, speak to me and I'll follow this up."

Stephanie said: "All of us here - we're tired and we're run down and we're fed up and scared and it's not ok."

Residents applauded as she finished speaking.

Others who attended the meeting also said they have seen officers failing to get out of their cars on call-outs.

Jacqueline Higgins said she had been on the phone with a 101 operator when she saw a marked car drive off.

"I'm on the recording saying, 'That car has driven off - they've not come back'.

"There's evidence there."

Insp Setchell vowed to take the matter to the professional standards department if necessary, but reiterated that officers in East Bournemouth are 'passionate' about their work.

"[Officers] work tirelessly for 16, 18 hours a day for me, trying to catch people and put them away," he said.

"They start at 8am and they don't finish until 4am. Then they're back in again at 9am."

He said he wanted residents to have an "understanding of the depth of passion and commitment" officers show.

However, officers prioritise based on "threat, risk and harm", he added.

"If there are available resources to go and look for people dealing drugs in that particular location, we'll do it," he said.