Residents of a UK seaside town have taken matters into their own hands after they say the state of their streets deteriorated due to crime. Bournemouth’s streets are described as “lawless”, and a group of locals have formed a “Safeguard Force”, which calls itself “a voluntary community service set up to protect the most vulnerable”. Completely unofficial and unregulated, its members walk around semi-uniformed with an aim to put off criminality and help out an “overstretched” police force.
Police data suggests that, in Bournemouth South, crime per quarter has increased from 1,926 in April to June 2022 to 2,096 over the same period in 2025. Anti-social behaviour has been the principal problem, figures suggest, with 6,449 incidents recorded over three years. Violent and sexual offences closely follow, with 6,289 logged.
Moreover, three hotels are housing asylum seekers, a move that has prompted protests as locals complain of alleged illegal labour and criminal acts.
Bournemouth’s Safeguard Force patrols the town centre every evening from 7.30pm, and the volunteers plan to wander around for longer, even hoping to roll out their idea across the country.
“We don’t like the word ‘vigilantes’, don’t like it at all,” says Gary Bartlett, the group’s founder, told the Times.
In the Triangle, a paved precinct, volunteer Jamie Whatton, 52, said the area is a “hot spot for alcoholics and drug users”.
He added that a lady who runs a salsa group locally had asked the group to look in every hour.
Mr Whatton said: “And we get women on their own coming up to us saying, ‘It’s fantastic, we feel so much safer when we know you guys are out.’”
Bournemouth’s branch of Stand Up To Racism claimed Mr Bartlett has links to the far-right, and was the admin for a Facebook group called Taking Back Our Country, which hosted “racist and Islamophobic content”.
He insisted that he is no longer connected with the social media page, which was an “unconnected initiative”.
The Safeguard Force’s leader added that he is apolitical and does not tolerate racism, emphasising that people of the Sikh and Muslim faiths are taking part in his initiative.
Labour MP for Bournemouth East, Tom Hayes, said the town centre has “felt like it’s in decline” for a long time.
He added: “The gardens aren’t looked after as they were, the high street isn’t bustling. This is a coastal town that’s been ignored at the highest levels for a very long time.”
Mr Hayes also claimed that locals “don’t bother” reporting crimes because they feel like they are being “passed from pillar to post”.
Residents “play fair” and “stick within the rules”, he added, but “when we see something wrong and report it nobody gets back to us”. Labour, he added, is trying to turn around the situation, as he pointed to the recruitment of 40 new police officers
