HATE crimes against people with learning difficulties and concerns about the loss of police officers with local knowledge, were two of the topics raised by the public at police roadshows recently.

Residents from Avonmore and Brook Green spoke to the council's deputy leader, Greg Smith and Chief Superintendent Lucy D'Orsi - the borough commander, at a meeting on Wednesday July 10 as part of a series of shows around the borough entitled 'How are we doing on crime?'.

In an attempt to tackle crime by gathering information, the pair heard how young people smoking drugs outside people's front doors, hate crimes against people with learning difficulties and the loss of police officers with local knowledge are the main worries of people in the area.

Anna McInulty, 50, of Linacre Court, Talgarth Road, said: “One of the main problems is students. They are very intimidating on my block, smoking drugs and making it a very uncomfortable place to live in. This all happens during the daytime and we should not have to accept such anti-social behaviour on our doorstep.”

The borough commander explained that robbery, burglary and theft of, and from motor vehicles crimes are all down from last year, as are the number of calls relating to anti-social behaviour.

She outlined how there is a problem with drugs on estate in the borough, which the police are attempting to combat with more patrols and plain clothes officers.

The meeting came a day before the launch of Operation West Wing, where police officers from all over the borough will be engaging in many operations to tackle anti-social behaviour using information from residents and police intelligence.

On the first day alone, nine people were arrested, two were given cannabis warnings and one vehicle was seized. There were also 29 stop and searches.

The operation will continue until September.