On the streets with Bournemouth's 'Safeguard Force' on first patrol in seaside resort
It’s a warm summer evening on Bournemouth’s bustling seafront.
Listen to this article
Families enjoy the amusements at the historic pier, revellers drink on the sand, and the coastline is packed with people as far as the eye can see.
Bournemouth has been one of Britain’s most beloved holiday resorts since the Victorian era.
But a spate of antisocial behaviour, stabbings, and sexual assaults in recent years has left many feeling unsafe.
It has prompted a new volunteer group to patrol the streets, wearing high-viz vests as they look out for signs of trouble.
The group, called Safeguard Force, has been described by critics as a ‘vigilante’ force, raising concerns its members could abuse ‘self-appointed’ powers.
Read more: From the frontline: Inside Ukraine’s drone wall holding back Russia’s 'meatgrinder' onslaught
On its first patrol, the group’s founder Gary Bartlett says all his volunteers are carefully vetted.
The main aim, he says, is to help Dorset Police keep people safe – but the group is yet to be endorsed by the force, which says it has reduced antisocial behaviour in the town by almost 20% in the last year.
Gary, who runs a roofing business, said: "I’ve grown up here and seen it as a great town – now my daughter says she won’t come to Bournemouth on her own. It’s lawless. If we can stop something from happening, that’s a good thing."
He laughs when I ask whether Safeguard Force is a vigilante group: "We don’t accept that. We’re not trying to enforce the law – it’s about deterrence."
But what if they saw an active crime? Gary says they would intervene – physically – if necessary: "If someone is getting sexually assaulted, you’d have to jump in and do something.
"Joe Public would do that if he was walking down the road."
16 volunteers are walking through the town centre and along the beach, in groups of four, but Bournemouth appears to be on its best behaviour.
In the few hours I spend with them, they respond to just one incident – a boy racer doing doughnuts on the crowded promenade, narrowly avoiding families and one of the volunteers. The group say they recorded the car and sent the video to police.
The reception towards the group is mixed. One man rushes over and asks them to help find his shoes. Another swears at them as he jogs past.
I ask co-founder Ritchie Wellman, a former security guard, about the hostility.
"He’s recognised the uniform and got the wrong idea about us," he tells me. "These are the people whose confidence we’d like to gain in time.
"Can it really be a bad thing if we prevent just one person from being stabbed?"
The hostility, he says, comes from misconceptions of the group as far right.
Stand Up To Racism’s BCP spokesman has described them as a "far right vigilante group" with links to protests outside local hotels being used to house asylum seekers.
Responding to these claims, Gary tells me: "We don’t have any political views at all. There’s no discrimination here and we have ethnic minorities in our group."
Having been on the wrong side of the law as a teenager, Ritchie told us part of his motivation to be involved in the patrols was 'to rebuild trust and make a positive difference'.
"I’ve always believed in transparency, and I won’t shy away from my past." He told LBC that a conviction for theft was "a terrible mistake" which "deeply affected someone else’s life".
"I believe in rehabilitation, and I believe that 17 years of consistent, positive action speaks louder than one mistake from my youth."
Safeguard Force say they want to become an active and trusted part of Bournemouth’s community, but authorities are yet to endorse them, with the local council saying they have not been forthcoming with any "information sharing."
Local Labour MP Jessica Toale has said there is a "real danger of abuse of artificial power", saying it is not the job of a "self-appointed, unregulated group" to patrol the streets in a makeshift uniform.
A Dorset Police spokesperson said they were in "discussions with the group about their plans, policies, and processes."
They said: "As a partnership, together with our local authority colleagues and others, we are continuing to assess the information, risks and opportunities community groups can bring.
"We would take the opportunity to remind the public that there are existing voluntary roles including the Special Constabulary, street pastors and various watch schemes available where members of the public can make a difference to their communities.
“Over the past seven days, our officers have carried out around 200 hours of high visibility foot patrols across Bournemouth town centre and the seafront.
"As a result, we have arrested five people, carried out 12 stop searches, issued one community resolution, responded to 33 incidents of anti-social behaviour as well as visiting 79 premises and engaging with almost 700 members of the public."