A TOP level Bournemouth councillor has hit out at "rough, wild, drunken criminals" after people were 'left terrified' by a traveller group this week.

Cllr Pat Oakley has criticised the police response after a group of travellers allegedly rampaged through the town centre.

On Monday night, several pubs and bars were forced to close early after reports of fights and claims that crowds of people threw things around and pulled themselves pints.

Travellers who set up an encampment in the Glen Fern Road car park were linked to the disorder.

In a letter to the Echo, Cllr Oakley, the cabinet member for tourism, leisure and the arts, said those responsible were misnamed 'travellers' and accused police of neglecting their duty to enforce the law.

"Last Monday, Bournemouth town centre witnessed a disgraceful level of lawlessness that forced the closure of businesses, terrorised our visitors and residents and sent out the message 'don't come to Bournemouth it is out of control, Bournemouth police have lost control'," he said.

"Hundreds of local people, holiday makers, families and language students were terrified by the behaviour of a small number of people we call travellers."

Cllr Oakley said the term travellers "describes an ethnic group of yesteryear" namely "mainly Irish and Roma Gypsies who wandered the highways and byways of our green and pleasant land", and he dubbed the people responsible for the chaos on Monday "rough, wild, drunken criminals".

"They own top of the range mobile homes, pay no rent or taxes," he said.

Earlier this week, in response to Monday's disorder, Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said he would continue to fight for tougher enforcement powers in parliament.

"There are inadequate enforcement powers to swiftly move on these illegally-set up camps in settled communities, causing profound disturbance to decent people who make their full contribution to society and pay their taxes," he said.

"I have consistently urged government to review legislation to give police greater powers to deal with this blight on our community."

However, Cllr Oakley said change in the law was "a very long time coming" and "in the meantime – chaos reigns".

"What makes me and so many others really angry is that we don't need new laws to arrest people who are drunk and disorderly, use foul language, are fighting and helping themselves to booze from the bar. Those laws already exist.

"When I talk to police officers on a one-to-one, they tell me this sort of behaviour isn't seen as a priority by senior officers.

"You have to wonder what these so called 'travellers' would have to have do for one of them to be arrested.

"How much longer do we have to put up with this criminal behaviour while police officers pass it by?"

Chief Superintendent Mark Callaghan of Dorset Police said "significant police resources" had been expended to police the disturbance, including extra patrols and retaining officers on duty.

"At a strategic and operational level we worked in very close partnership with the local authorities to resolve the issues which were presented to us all as quickly as possible," he said.

"We will not tolerate anti-social behaviour of this nature and strongly dispute the suggestion that it is not seen as a priority by senior officers.

"We recognise the detrimental impact this behaviour has upon the community. We are committed to working together with our partner agencies, including the local authority, to combat this.

"We will robustly investigate any crimes that have been reported swiftly and proportionately and take positive action where the evidence identifies a suspect."

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