by When cars started disappearing from an affluent suburb on the edge of London, Laura* and her neighbors decided it was time to take action. Just 20 minutes from Marylebone by train, in the Buckinghamshire town of Gerrards Cross, Range-Rovers, Bentleys and Teslas were stolen one after the other in a series of thefts before December 2022. The police were not much to help, Laura. says. So the residents took matters into their own hands instead.
In December 2022, they got together to hire their own private security. Now, a surveillance car, paid for by the residents, loops a series of roads in the area at night – to warn would-be thieves. At first glance, the London Security Syndicate, or LSS, looks like a police vehicle – equipped with an orange light, blue and yellow markings, and the word “security” on its roof and side doors. Inside, it has a dashcam and GPS tracking.
“[Crime] It was so common, and we felt that the support from the police was not there,” says Laura, whose garden was vandalized two years ago. “[The trespassers] They ran away, but many other people’s cars had been stolen in the area and there had also been an alarming burglary where people had hammers.
“It was a trigger. We thought ‘This is very scary and it is very serious, we have to do something about it because we are not going to get any protection from the police’. So we took it upon ourselves to look for alternatives [which were] private security firms.”
They are not alone. With car theft in England and Wales on the rise – Home Office figures show more than 133,000 offenses were recorded in the year to March, a 78 per cent increase on the same period a decade ago – it appears that a number increasing numbers of people are turning to hiring guards to protect their vehicles.
The capital is particularly badly invested. Across London, the number of car thefts has increased significantly since 2021, according to the Metropolitan Police. Almost 24,000 vehicles were stolen in 2023, figures released by the force show, up from 18,058 two years earlier.
During the day, the sprawling houses in Gerrards Cross sit on wide roads lined with tall trees. Sunlight filters through the autumn leaves, and dog walkers are out on their morning walks. But at night, the roads become shadowy, and the large distance between each house leaves them isolated – and at risk of burglary.
Residents in the area say crime had reached “the highest level in years” in the run-up to the spate of car thefts. Gangs have been targeting individual homes for more than a decade, they say, and have reportedly held several families hostage while demanding access to safes and life savings.
Then cars started going missing. “They broke their way through the gates, and they had some kind of device, which was like a curtain pole that they kept near the house”, explains one resident, Hannah*, speaking about a stolen Bentley in the area. “And somehow they used the coding of the key to break into the car and take it.”
“Range Rovers were mostly on the drive and the thieves managed to take a sign off the keys,” says another resident, Mary. “My next door neighbor told me she has two friends who had their Range Rovers stolen, right on our road.”
As concerns arose, local councilors held a public meeting with members of the public and Thames Valley Police, residents say. Officers were given a clear idea of how people felt. “The police weren’t absent, and they were following things, but in a way that didn’t satisfy people,” says Hannah. “I think there was a lot of fear, and no additional police presence was planned.”
Finally, a group of residents sent out a letter praising the private security scheme.
Initially the “patrol loop” was to take in seven roads with the condition that other roads could be added if the residents were willing to pay the fee. A price list was also included: the more people who opted into the scheme, the cheaper it was. If 50 people signed up to hire one security guard and an accompanying vehicle for 12 hours a day, every day of the week, it would cost each of them £145.60 a month. The charge for an hour’s protection was £291.20 per person.
Residents, many of whom signed up, opted for the 12-hour service. Those who agreed to take part were invited to a separate WhatsApp group chat, and currently pay around £100 a month.
Every evening the LSS car patrols their neighborhood, checking for any suspicious activity. “The security guard comes around eight o’clock in the evening, gets into the vehicle… and cruises the streets during the night,” Hannah explains.
LSS says they work alongside local police” to provide “tailored patrols” which are “proven to significantly reduce residential crime in their respective neighbourhoods”.
In addition, the company’s website says it uses police data on crime trends and suspicious behavior on the streets where it operates. He also works with the Safer Neighborhood and Neighborhood Watch teams.
Amidst the alarming rise in car crime, the firm appears to be growing in popularity. It now operates in at least 20 suburbs across North London and the home counties including Brockley Hill, Moor Park, Northwood, Beaconsfield and Epping, in Essex. In Radlett, Hertfordshire, “London Security Syndicate high-visibility patrol vehicles are now a common sight,” the website says.
Private security companies were now operating in middle-class communities, once the wealthiest guardians of society. My Local Bobby, another residential security company, patrols places such as Chigwell, Woodford and Trent Park, as well as the upscale enclaves of Notting Hill and Chelsea. Security Risk Specialists, or SRS, cover neighborhoods in Greenwich, Brent, Hounslow and Haringey – among other boroughs.
Back in Gerrards Cross, not everyone is on board with the scheme – fueling tensions between those who pay to “opt out” and those who don’t, but take advantage of the extra security measures nonetheless.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘we don’t want to pay for extra security’. And then there were other people who wanted to pay for it, and they were saying, ‘how will this work?’” says Máire.
“It causes a divide between those who pay and those who don’t,” says Laura, who takes part in the scheme. “Some people are reluctant to pay for it, but they like the benefit of having a car driving down their road, which other people are paying for. It bothers me.”
Others feel the service is unnecessary: ”We personally didn’t want to join and pay £100 a month to cover that risk,” says Hannah. “It’s a lot of money. We don’t have an expensive car and we don’t really have the expensive things that some of the others do.”
Jane*, another resident, says: “I think it’s a bit unnecessary. We’ve never had a problem, we’ve been here for 25 years, and it’s a very safe neighborhood.”
John*, one of those who decided not to contribute, claims that the security doesn’t do anything the police wouldn’t do. “They’re just driving around. I asked the question, ‘If you saw someone attempting a robbery, what would you do?’ And they said, ‘Call the police’.
“We can do that anyway, they don’t have the powers to stop anyone if they see them, they’re just patrolling the area so I decided not to pull in because I didn’t think no point in it.”
To distinguish between “paying members” and “non-paying members”, a system of yellow placards was set up in Crois Gerard. Residents opting for the scheme would be allowed to display these outside their homes as a deterrent, and it was also agreed that the security would only cover their homes. If anything happened to a paying resident’s property, the security guard would be there immediately. Residents who opted out would receive no support whatsoever.
Despite this, many residents of Gerrards Cross who pay feel that others in the community are taking advantage of the barrier provided by the security car. And there are stories of the security vehicle intercepting crimes in homes they don’t pay for: rescuing their Amazon packages from criminal gangs, and stopping car thefts.
Whether they choose to or not, many residents agree that they have seen crime in the local area drop and report that they feel safer at night since the scheme started.
“It’s peace of mind, there’s definitely an improvement,” says Laura. “It doesn’t mean there’s never going to be crime, because things still happen, but I definitely feel safer. We know that if something happens to our house, that they will be there.” For many here and elsewhere, it seems, peace of mind is precious.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “Crime that affects our communities is important to us, and our officers and staff work extremely hard to investigate thoroughly and build public confidence.
“We are committed to working closely with our communities to combat crime and, thankfully, crime in the Crois Gerard area remains low when compared nationally.
“We are aware that some members of the public may wish to raise issues with us, and we would encourage them to get in touch, we would also ask them to continue to report any crimes to us so that we can gather information and to collect. to bring offenders to justice and tackle the criminality associated with them.”
*Names have been changed
