While walking my dog in Halstead Public Gardens, I witnessed two youths in broad daylight vandalising the shelters.

They were kicking the boards, as well as throwing a knife into the woodwork as some sort of target practice.

I confronted them, and they stopped.

However, when I left the park, I noticed they returned and repeated the same behaviour.

I went to Halstead library and the helpful staff very kindly telephoned the police on my behalf to report the behaviour.

Twenty minutes later, the police had still not answered the telephone.

Last month, speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, our local MP James Cleverly called on the Prime Minister to “build a Britain fit for the future... and to leave the country in a better place than we found it”.

MPs and Parliament can pontificate and promise as much as they like, but until they undo the catastrophic cuts that have been made to the police, the people living in communities such as Halstead, are seeing a broken Britain with communities in decline, where we cannot even get in touch with the police to report crimes that are happening in broad daylight in a public place.

The situation regarding policing in Halstead is an absolute disgrace.

Rev Sean Carter

Halstead Baptist Church