A chronic lack of police on the streets is allowing violence to run wild even in affluent areas such as Twickenham and Richmond, according a law and order campaigner.

Retired police officer, Norman Brennan, lives less than half a mile from the playing fields in Craneford Way, Twickenham, where 18-year-old Hazrat Wali was stabbed to death this week.

The murder occurred in broad daylight just a few yards from a children's playground and Richmond College, where the victim was a student.

Mr Brennan, who was a police officer for over 30 years and director of the Law and Order Foundation, is an expert in homicide, gun and knife crime and has campaigned alongside the families of victims seeking justice.

He said a collapse in police numbers in recent years had left officers unable to keep our streets safe.

"Too many young men are carrying knives and too many families are planning funerals rather than futures,' he said.

"I personally have seen an increase in antisocial behaviour in my borough over the last two to three years, which I find very worrying. When that type of the behaviour becomes the norm in a place like this then the whole country should really be concerned."

Mr Brennan said: "The lovely borough of Richmond is one of the safest places in Britain, but in recent weeks we have had the attacks on cyclists in Richmond Park with machetes and a stabbing nearby in Kingston.

"Earlier this year there was another stabbing at Teddington Lock, a murder in Richmond as well as teenage girl gangs filming attacks on other girls."

The former police officer said: "It starts with gangs of youths on bikes and electric scooters riding around thinking they are untouchable. Unless you can crack down early on these groups are their antisocial behaviour it then becomes a free-for-all.

"So many teenagers now are carrying knives and it is time to realise just how serious this knife epidemic really ease."

Police chiefs have operated extra 'reassurance patrols' in the area where the stabbing occurred and at Richmond College, where many students have been traumatised by the killing.

But Mr Brennan said: "It is all very well having patrols after something has happened, but that tends to be for a day or so and then the public never see the police again.

"I have lived here for over 40 years and I love the area, but I don't think I ever see a police officer in all the areas I know well, such as Twickenham, Richmond or Hampton."

He stressed that he was not criticising the police themselves, but rather the fact they do not have the numbers needed to keep the streets safe.

"I am ashamed to say that the police cannot cope. Officers are working 12 hour shifts. They are having their leave and rest days cancelled and they are at breaking point.

"The streets of Britain are not safe, not just for the public but also for the police themselves.

"The Conservatives say they are recruiting 20,000 police officers, but prior to that we lost 22,000 police officers and thousands of other support staff.

"I know as a retired police officer that the police do not have enough people to do the job. They can barely put a team out and many shifts across Britain are operating at a minimum number."

Earlier this year the MPs for Twickenham and Richmond Park, Munira Wilson and Sarah Olney, along with the Council leader, Gareth Roberts, wrote the London mayor pleading for extra officers to combat rising levels of violence.

Mr Brennan said there are no shortcuts to keeping people safe and it is time to return to the traditional model of putting police back on the street.

"The way you correctly keep the streets safe is that you saturate them with uniformed police officers that meet and interact with the public, share information and reassure them.

"At the moment, all we have is fire brigade policing where officers go from one emergency to the next. In the meantime crimes stack up which they cannot properly investigate."