FAMILIES must be able to feel safe in Boscombe and Bournemouth, says the police chief heading up a bid to crush local drug dealing.

In the last three days Operation Dismantle has seen around 80 officers target the homes of Class A drug dealers, seizing drugs, cash and stolen goods.

Detective Inspector Michael Mullen says heroin and crack cocaine is being dealt in Boscombe’s parks, the precinct and the Lansdowne area.

He added: “I want this open drug dealing to be stamped out and to give people the protection and reassurance they deserve.

“They should be able to go out, shop, and walk about with their kids without seeing drugs exchanging hands and the violence that goes with that.

Operation Dismantle

• 23 arrests in total – including two women aged 23 and 37.

• Eight people charged on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs

• 15 people are still helping police with their enquiries

• Dismantle brings together Bournemouth Drugs and Alcohol Action Team, Dorset Working Women’s Project, Safer Neighbourhood Teams, Dorset Fire and Rescue Service and Social Services.

Children’s services removed children from a family home where drugs were being used.

“This operation is about getting people off the streets and allowing decent people to go about their normal everyday business.”

The drug busts follow four months of evidence gathering. Many dealers visit from London on dealing “away days” to trade.

Drugs officers travelling to the capital and Scarborough yesterday picked up five men, arresting a further two from London on Wednesday.

“A lot of dealers will come down, sell Class As and go back again,” DI Mullen said. “Sometimes they’re 18-19 year olds acting as runners, but they’re usually very well established men who visit to feed the demand.”

Officers, accompanied by sniffer dogs, have been out on the beat for example around Boscombe precinct, giving out help and advice to affected people.

Drugs often bring violence, crime and prostitution. A man charged with drugs offences recently also faces prosecution for numerous rapes, strangulation and assaults.

“Women working the streets and drug dependants are the victims here,” DI Mullen added. “We want to reach out to the drug addicts and work closely with them.

“We’re giving them the opportunity to get help. Now their dealers are gone and there’s a gap in the market, we appreciate there’ll be a need for drugs.

“There’s violence behind the drugs scene, with dealers preying on vulnerable people and using the flats of drug dependant people who can’t say no.”