Residents of a seaside town which has just six PCSOs now pay £100 each a year for a private security firm to patrol their streets

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Hundreds of residents in a seaside town are paying a security firm more than £100-a-year to patrol their streets because of a lack of police. 

Security company AGS drives around Frinton-on-Sea in Essex every night between 7pm and 7am and also has an emergency phoneline - although they call 999 if the situation is very serious.

Residents say they are paying AGS because because it has no police station or police officers and only six PCSOs who must travel around by bus or bike.

Filling a gap? Hundreds of Frinton residents are now paying security firm  AGS to patrol their streets because of a lack of police

Area: Security company AGS aim to travel along every street in Frinton (pictured) while patrolling between 7pm and 7am every night

Critics including the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner fear a two-tier system commonly found in African countries such as South Africa is taking hold.

Frinton's police station closed 20 years ago and the town's nearest police station is in nearby Walton but it is set to be closed and sold by Essex Police in the latest wave of estate cuts.

The town, which has 4,000 residents, has six PCSOs and its nearest police station will be in Clacton-on-Sea, about eight miles away, where the crime rate is much higher.

Now security companies are filling the void critics are concerned it is a path to vigilantism and could be classed as a 'protection racket'.

Former soldier Stephen Beardsley is head of AGS and insists he and his staff are far from vigilantes and are only concerned with keeping people safe. 

He said: 'We are like Ronseal. We do exactly what it says on the tin. We have no powers - no more than the average citizen's arrest - but for us, we are about being a deterrent.

'We want to make our presence felt to deter people from doing what they are going out to do.'

The firm's patrols are carried out by three men split between two vehicles looking just like police patrol cars.

Warning: The company will call in the police themselves but do believe their presence is thwarting crime in the idyllic seaside town

Profit: The company believes that charging £2-a-week per subscriber is a fair price after seeing a gap in the market in Essex

Each 'officer' is uniformed, again looking like a police officer, and wears a body camera. They carry no weapons as it is illegal for anyone but police officers and Army personnel to be armed. 

However, Mr Beardsley, 50, knows his company - which charges £2 per week for its services - has not been universally welcomed.

He added: 'It is a job for the police and we have a fantastic police force, but they are so over-stretched it's unbelievable.

Patrols: The staff have stepped in because the town has no police station and the nearest one is set to close as well

'It must be demoralising for them to be stuck in doing paper work, fearing for their jobs. I feel sorry for them.

'But there is no getting away from it, private security security will be part of the norm in years to come.'

In August, the most recent figures available, 39 crimes were reported in Frinton. That includes 13 violent and sexual offences and 11 instances of antisocial behaviour. 

In August 2014, there were 26 crimes reported, including five violent and sexual offences and five burglaries.

Essex Police Crime Commissioner Nick Alston said: “It is not for me to say what residents should or shouldn’t do, but I do have concerns that residents in relatively low crime areas are considering funding private security patrols.

“It has the potential to create a two tier policing system. I would prefer that all of us who are residents in Essex pay a responsible amount for policing through our council tax.

“For example an extra 50p per week would fund an extra 300 officers in Essex working on behalf of the whole community, and not just those who can afford and are prepared to pay considerably more for private security.

“Such an increase in council tax would still mean we in Essex pay less through our council tax than the average across the English counties." 

The idea to carry out the private patrols first came to former soldier Mr Beardsley - who provided private security for model Sophie Anderton for six years and fought Somali pirates off the East Africa coast - in 2014.

At the time, AGS had been tasked with protecting the equipment and materials being used in a £36million sea wall overhaul in nearby Holland-on-Sea.

'We did a good job down there. Nothing went missing,' he added.

'We were driving around the area at the time and there are a lot of private roads.

'People we coming out saying: 'It's good to have you around,' but we were telling them we won't be here forever unfortunately.

'So they started saying they would like to pay keep us around and that got me thinking.

'I knew it was something which was done in London, except it was more at individual houses than streets or areas.'

Official: The company's vehicles do look a lot like police cars but they have none of the same powers

Large proportion: The Company says that one in 11 of all Frinton's residents are paying them to protect their homes and businesses

He added: 'I knew if I was going to do it, I wanted to make it affordable to most people - that's why I settled on £2-a-week.'

At the moment, there are about 300 paying customers in Frinton The team aim to cover every street in the town five times a night.

Since they began patrols in September, Mr Beardsley believes several would-be burglars have been stopped and problems with teen antisocial behaviour have been tackled.

The team was also first on scene when a car overturned and five people were helped from the car and suffered only minor injuries.

Warning: Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston fears a two-tier system commonly found in African countries such as South Africa is taking hold

When customers sign up, they are given a welcome pack which includes a card with a hotline number to the patrolling officers, who Mr Beardsley says will be 'no more than a few minutes away'.

He added: 'If we are called to something which needs the police, we call Essex Police on either 999 or 101, depending on what has happened.'

Customers are also told directly, if there is a genuine emergency, they should call the police on 999 rather than use the AGS hotline.

Essex Police has announced £60million in cuts which will have to take place over the next five years and force bosses have openly said they cannot guarantee resources will be sent to low level crime reports.

Frinton's town council already pays for six dedicated PCSOs but they have no transport and often have to rely on buses or bicycles to get around. 

The town has a population of about 4,000 and is famed for having just one pub, The Lock and Barrel, and one fish and chip shop.

Attempts to add a second of each were strongly opposed by residents and rejected by the local authority.

The town's main street, Connaught Avenue, is still marketed by tourism bosses as the Bond Street of East Anglia.

Frinton town councillor Terry Allen said the town is split over the patrols.

He said: 'There is a niche for private security, as long as they do a good job. But the concern is that this is something for the police.

'I know in our area, £1million of our council tax goes to Essex Police and that would be enough to pay for dozens of police officers.

'As it is, we're lucky if we see two. The result is, people are concerned about what goes on when they open their front door, that's their priority.

'The Government's priority is terrorism, cyber crime and organised crime.. That's not what you think about when you're in your home.'

The town's former mayor added the AGS patrols 'do put people's fears at ease'. 

NOW POLICE WILL USE DRONES TO HELP FIGHT CRIME INCLUDING HUNTING FOR MISSING PEOPLE AND TAKING AERIAL SHOTS OF CRIME SCENES 

Two police forces in Britain are set to use drones to fight crime - including hunting missing people and snapping pictures of crime scenes.

Devon and Cornwall Police began a six-month trial of the unmanned aerial systems today and their colleagues in Dorset are preparing to start their own trials. 

The drones could be used as a quick way to attend difficult to reach places or gather information during dangerous firearms incidents that officers would not normally be able to access.

Fighting crime: This is one of the drones which will be trialled by police in Dorset from November 26

The drones are equipped with high definition cameras which can capture both video and still images. 

Police in Devon and Cornwall will use two DJI Inspire 1 Drones, which cost upwards of £2,000 each.

Officers in Dorset are currently undertaking final preparations to begin trialling two drones - a Phantom 2 + - worth about £600 - and a DJI Inspire - from Thursday November 26.  

Civil Aviation Authority regulations state that drone operators must pass a national CAA accredited qualification.

Both police forces currently have three trained pilots and there are plans to train further officers should the trial prove to be a success.