I READ with sadness the dreadful experience of Mr John Bell who was attacked in his car (‘My carjack terror’, Echo, February 21).

His remarks regarding Bournemouth’s unsafe streets epitomise the feelings of most law-abiding citizens with regard to the violent behaviour that prevails today.

The are many reasons for this sort of behaviour and there are many who should hang their heads in shame for deliberately exposing the nasty side of humanity to the vulnerable for self gain.

One source is television. I haven’t watched the ‘soaps’ for years, but a couple of weeks ago decided to catch up.

I was horrified to watch such aggression and violence portrayed by some of the characters. These programmes (and similar) are watched nightly by impressionable minds. Many of the comics are not even funny, just rude and coarse.

We have drinking venues in abundance in our town, some open all hours, plus many shops selling cheap drink.

The police numbers are constantly taken up in the town centre at the weekend. Even our Bournemouth West MP has made comment about the sad state of affairs.

All these years later, nobody seems to have done anything to stop it – that’s how it appears to the residents.

Some parents must live in dread when their youngsters go our for an evening, again, it has been allowed to escalate.

Looking at the new section of court appearances in the Echo, there seems to be far too many individuals not being punished adequately for their misdemeanours.

We need big changes in our country. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

RUTH COOKE Redhill Park, Bournemouth