A community group has hit out at Weymouth and Portland Police by saying that officers need to do more to crackdown on anti-social behaviour in Weymouth.

A post by the police on social media on Tuesday, April 9 asked for the public to help their officers deal with anti-social behaviour by reporting incidents to them.

It said: “We are aware of some comments on social media about us allegedly not dealing with some ASB on the Esplanade.

“So far today, we have moved on street drinkers, poured away multiple cans of alcohol and interacted positively with locals and holiday makers alike whilst on our foot patrols.

“These actions are all within our powers as PCSOs. We act accordingly with what we’re presented with and, if nothing anti-social is occurring at the time, there are no actions we can take.

“As much as we try, we can’t be everywhere at once, so if you see anything please report it to us online at dorset.police.uk/do-it-online or call 101 to bring it to our attention.”

The strategy team behind the Facebook group called Weymouth and Portland Compliments, Complaints, Observations and Suggestions (WeyPortCCOS) said: “They do not enforce either longer bans or prosecution often enough so we have the same small group causing a disproportionate amount of grief. The escalation process does not work on this group.

“We understand that it’s a disease and these people are our responsibility but we need to deal with them away from the beach area. It’s not acceptable so, if they have to, let’s accommodate them in less sensitive areas.”

Danny Whyte, admin of the WeyPort CCOS group, said: “Weymouth and Portland Police recorded 39% crime in Weymouth as anti-social behaviour in 2018. Personally, I think they need to reallocate their resources accordingly.

“It’s true the police have increased activity which is having an effect but this will be swamped once the season is fully here.

“The fact that it's usually the same small party causing these problems in town and along the esplanade shows that whatever the police are doing just does not work for these people.

“We do try and help the police, we do report issues but some people are waiting for an hour using the 101 phone system and just give up trying, we try and persuade them to email the police instead as apparently that’s quicker than talking.”

A poll was run on the WeyPortCCOS page in which 362 people voted. 216 people voted that the police need to do more and 128 people voted that tourism is being affected by anti-social behaviour.

Claudia Moore, Chief Operating Officer of Weymouth’s Business Improvement District, said: “I think the police have really stepped up lately.

“They are doing a lot of work in the town and the seafront, the levels of anti-social behaviour have gone down and I have noticed less homeless people recently.

“I think it is subjective. If you see a police officer speaking to a person in the street but not arresting them you don’t have the whole story but police have issued a lot of notices to people to stop them begging or drinking in the streets.”