Private police: coming to a street near you
Across the UK, a lack of bobbies means concerned citizens are resorting to paidfor-patrols, reports Cara McGoogan
The tipping point for the village of Martock, Somerset, came in March this year. A woman asked a group of anti-social youths to “keep the noise down” so her baby could sleep. They responded that she should watch out for the “wrench in the boot”.
In the weeks leading up to the incident, a group of people in their late teens and early 20s had started gathering in a small car park near the local supermarket, blaring music and revving their engines until the early hours.
“It’s not like the inner-city,” says Neil Bloomfield, the chairman of Martock parish council, and Somerset district councillor. “This is the countryside, and there is an expected level of peace.”
The 5,000-person market village used to be a place where residents felt comfortable leaving their homes unlocked. But this year, the atmosphere started to change. “It almost feels like it’s becoming lawless,” says Mark Evans, a 45-yearold resident. “We have all sorts of anti-social behaviour but there’s no deterrent. We very rarely see police.”
“Kids will be kids, but when you have people threatening others, that’s not OK,” says Bloomfield. “Someone suggested public patrols but I thought that was too much like vigilantism, and would attract the wrong people.”
Instead, Bloomfield, who worked in the police for 22 years, asked Atlas UK Security Services to patrol four days per week between 10pm and 1am. In so doing, the village became one of a growing number of communities across the country – from Teesside to Essex and Gloucester to Belgravia – that has enlisted the services of private police to fill the gap left by traditional law enforcement.
Private police are often accredited by the Security Industry Authority and have limited powers of deterring people from committing crimes by their presence; intervening if they see something suspicious; and making citizens’ arrests.
Last week, the National Audit Office found police were arresting fewer people, even as crime rates rise, while the proportion of crimes that end with someone being charged has fallen 15 per cent in the past two years. Last year, the Met Police dropped 34,164 crimes without further investigation – double that of the previous year.
Rising crime, coupled with an embattled police force, means private security is no longer the preserve of gated communities. Martock is one of the poorer villages in its area, and Bloomfield is quick to point out they’re “not a load of rich people paying for private police” – six weeks of patrols has set them back £360.
Atlas UK has since received requests from the council in Glastonbury, which is seeking help with “undesirables hanging around in the centre”, while authorities in Taunton have expressed interest in using it to reduce begging.
TM Eye is a similar service run by former Scotland Yard detectives, which has put
“local bobbies” on streets from Westminster to Essex. Rather than being council funded, it charges households £50 to £200 per month. h.
“It’s about giving a community another solution if the police aren’t responding,” explains David McKelvey, director of TM Eye and its sister company, My Local Bobby (MLB). “It’s no different to private schooling or private hospitals.” McKelvey, a former detective chief inspector with the Met Police, founded TM Eye in 2007 to investigate the illicit goods market. Since then, the company has brought more than 400 private prosecutions, with a 100per cent conviction rate. “We probably deploy more undercover agents across the UK on a daily basis than law enforcement does,” says McKelvey. “We investigate things the authorities no longer look into or even record as crimes.”
The company last week raided an illicit tobacco factory in the West Midlands that it estimates was costing the exchequer £7.5million per week, and has since teamed up with local police in order to prosecute. “What’s missing is the high visibility of police on the streets to make people feel safe,” McKelvey explains. Martock is emblematic of the cuts that have affected
‘We investigate things the authorities no longer look into or even record as crimes’
police forces nationally. Avon and Somerset has lost 655 officers since 2010 as its budget has dwindled, while the UK as a whole has lost 21,000 officers in that time.
The private bobbies’ tasks range from telling residents they have left their keys in the door to stopping people from taking drugs on the street. Yet not everyone is happy about their presence. Labour MP Anna Turley’s constituency includes an area in Teesside that employs military veteran John Watson as a private policeman, which costs each household £13 per year. “Vulnerable people are feeling they need to pay for this to protect themselves,” she told Parliament in April. “That shouldn’t be the case. We pay for a police force. We want to see them out and visible on our streets.”
Similar concerns in 2015 about private police service AGS, which operated in Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, appeared to be confirmed when the company closed and apologised for harassing residents into paying £2-per-week for its services.
Sue Mountstevens, police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Avon and Somerset, says police are “far more effective” than private security. “I would encourage Martock parish council to put the funds towards a police community support officer (PCSO),” she adds.
The area already has a beat manager and two PCSOs who patrol in the daytime, but Mountstevens admits this isn’t enough. “Should we have more police? Yes, of course,” she says. “We’re as effective as we can be with the resources we’ve got.”
Retired officers last week claimed elected PCCs like Mountstevens are “bleeding hopeless” and waste resources with their “eccentric” ideas and “lousy judgment”, which she “disagrees [with] vehemently”. She has invested £12million in technology such as laptops, mobile phones with policing apps and vehicle Wi-Fi so officers can conduct their work in public. Next, she plans to introduce electric bikes in place of some police cars, allowing officers to “sit in coffee shops or libraries to update their reports while being accessible to local people”.
Until residents feel more at ease, however, private officers will proliferate. In a Belgravia square, MLB officer Adam Barnard is a few hours into his 12-hour patrol. The former Met Police officer is wearing a bright security vest and matching police-style hat. On his chest, there is a video camera; on his hip, a set of handcuffs. “There’s a lot of red tape and political stuff going on within the police, and I wanted a change,” he says. “It’s good money.”
He admits his role is mainly as a deterrent, and that if something happened he would call the authorities, but adds that if there was a return to “old-fashioned policing there wouldn’t be so much call for what we’re doing”.
Back in Martock, the anti-social behaviour has quietened down. For the time being, then, private police will continue their patrols.