News Story

A Reform UK council’s decision to deploy private security guards to town centres has received a mixed reaction, with some saying it made them feel safer, while another called it a waste of money.

Essex County Council said that six “operatives” will patrol Braintree, Colchester and Chelmsford town centres from Monday for an initial three-month trial period.

The initiative was announced in August after the Government informed Braintree District Council that it plans to expand the use of nearby former RAF airbase Wethersfield, which houses asylum seekers, some of whom travel to surrounding areas by bus.

The Home Office said it would increase the site’s capacity from 800 to 1,245, and will remain operational beyond 2027.

According to Reform UK, the initiative came as a “direct response to concerns raised amongst local residents, particularly women and girls, over gatherings of male migrants in town centres”.

On Monday, two security workers in red-coloured stab vests walked as a pair around Braintree town centre.

They walked along a street where St George’s Cross flags flew from lampposts, across a supermarket car park and through a pedestrian area near the town hall.

Support worker Patricia Crowhurst, 78, who was in the town centre on Monday, said: “I don’t think there’s any point in it.

“If they’ve got money to waste surely they could give it to the police that we’ve already got and we could have more security in the town if people are frightened.”

Sheila Clark, 66, said she was “not frightened” of migrants, adding: “I haven’t seen them in any trouble as such, they never seem to have caused any trouble and I’m in town a lot.”

She said she was more concerned about issues with drugs in the town.

The part-time carer, who lives near Braintree, said: “There’s a lot of drug people just hanging round continuously.

“They don’t seem to do nothing with them, police.”

But she said the security patrols were “a good thing for the town”, adding: “I feel better because they’re around if there’s anything happens.”

Louise Edwards, 39, said the patrols “will be a deterrent, 100%”.

The carer said: “Let’s face it, the world’s not as it used to be, people are carrying all sorts, doing all sorts of things.”

Jordan Taylor, 25, of Braintree, said: “I think it’s a great idea to be fair.

“There’s a lot of crime happening recently.

“It prevents crime.”

Andy Cullen, an area manager for security firm My Local Bobby which has supplied the security staff, said the two operatives in Braintree were wearing stab vests that were “pretty armoured”.

Speaking in the town on Monday, he said operatives could perform a citizen’s arrest if they saw a crime being committed, as anybody could, “and that’s as far as it goes really”.

“It’s really about providing that safer, smiley community, that’s what we want,” he said.

He said the firm had not been given instructions to focus on migrants, adding they were “looking at making sure that everybody is feeling secure in their own shopping centre and town centre and they can walk round feeling happy”.

The initiative, titled Operation Vanguard, is funded through a drawdown of up to £150,000 from a community improvement fund, Reform UK said, with the three-month trial expected to cost about £118,000 plus VAT.