Essex's red-vest patrols logged 106 significant incidents across Colchester, Chelmsford and Braintree in four weeks. No figures are given for Colchester alone.
The security patrols in Colchester city centre recorded 106 significant incidents or interventions in their first four weeks. That total covers all three towns in the trial: Colchester, Chelmsford and Braintree. The first monthly report does not say how many happened in Colchester.
Essex County Council has published the month one report for Operation Vanguard on its Operation Vanguard page. It was written by My Local Bobby, the private security firm the county council hired to run the patrols. It covers Monday 14 September to Sunday 11 October.
What the report records
The report gives these figures for the four weeks, across all three towns:
| Measure | Recorded |
|---|---|
| Patrol hours delivered | 1,319 of 1,344 contracted (98.14%) |
| Business engagements | 277 |
| Significant incidents or interventions | 106 |
| Anti-social behaviour interventions | 33 |
| Retail theft related incidents | 21 |
| Police or PCSO interactions, referrals or attendance | 20, including 3 linked to retail theft |
| Safeguarding or welfare responses | 12 |
The report’s summary names retail theft as “the most consistent crime related theme”. It lists anti-social behaviour, welfare and safeguarding, and “community intelligence” alongside it.
The report does not say whether the anti-social behaviour, theft and welfare rows are part of the 106 or counted on top of it. Added together, every incident row comes to 172. The report’s own summary gives the total as 106.
What it does not tell us
The report is a single page. It does not give:
- any figure for Colchester on its own
- where in each town the incidents happened
- what kind of incident makes up the rest of the 106
- how many of the 20 police contacts were referrals and how many were attendances
- what any of it has cost so far
The contract set targets, and the report says they were met. Patrols were to deliver at least 95% of contracted hours (98.14% was delivered). At least 95% of daily and weekly reports were to arrive on time (96% did). Every notifiable incident and complaint was to be reported under the contract (100%).
The 1,344 contracted hours over 28 days work out at 48 patrol hours a day across the three towns.
How the scheme works
The county council’s page says two security operatives patrol each of the three town centres, seven days a week. They wear red vests and body cameras and carry Security Industry Authority identification.
They have no police powers. They cannot arrest anyone, stop or search people, or make anyone answer questions. Anything needing enforcement goes to Essex Police.
The county council says it set up the scheme in response to concerns about people from the Wethersfield asylum accommodation centre. It says the patrols do not involve any profiling. We explained how Vanguard differs from the police hotspot patrols at Tollgate last month.
The trial began on 14 September and runs for an initial three months. Its cost is capped at £150,000, drawn from a county council reserve, and the council says it will not add to council tax. The decision was taken by the county council leader on 28 August, and the contract was awarded directly to My Local Bobby on 4 September.
Colchester councillors asked for evidence
Two motions on the agenda for Colchester City Council’s Full Council meeting on 14 October were about Vanguard. One asked the county council to suspend the patrols until it had consulted the city council, Essex Police, local MPs and the refugee charity RAMA. It also asked Essex Police to publish a year of city centre crime and anti-social behaviour figures. The other asked how many incidents of violence against women and girls the operation had attended.
Updated 5 November: the minutes show the first motion passed only after group leaders rewrote it. It no longer asks for a suspension. The council will ask the county to engage with it before any extension or renewal, to use competitive procurement for any extension, and to consider funding two more city centre neighbourhood wardens instead. It also asks Essex Police to publish the year of crime figures. The second motion, on violence against women and girls, was lost, with 12 for, 13 against and 18 abstaining. We set out how the night went in a separate story.
What it means for you
- If you see an operative: they can call the police and report crime for you, but they cannot act on it themselves. In an emergency, call 999.
- If you have a complaint about an operative: it goes to My Local Bobby through its website. A complaint about the scheme itself goes to Essex County Council.
- If you want the Colchester picture: the report does not give one. The county council publishes a report each month, and the trial’s initial three months run to mid-December.
We will add the next monthly report when it is published.
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