PATROL cars and guards with dogs lie in wait along the street – a private police force to keep burglars at bay after one resident was tied up by masked thugs.
Homeowners in a posh Hertfordshire village were so desperate to stamp out a surge in break-ins, they pooled together protection money and brought in some muscle.
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Daniel Graham lives on one of 20 roads in the under-siege area covered by 24/7 surveillance firm LSS London, with each resident paying £250 a month for the service due to a growing dissatisfaction with the regular police.
The 53-year-old told The Sun: “I’m of a certain age that I grew up around a Bobby on the beat. You knew your Bobby, you had a face and a contact.
“Having somebody who’s on the streets here, who knows houses, the cars, the people, the families – they build up a very familiar local picture so they can determine what is unfamiliar very quickly.
“I don’t have an issue with local police per se but I do believe that they are under-resourced.”
In December last year, three would-be robbers in masks crept up behind a house on Daniel’s street triggering security sensors.
The private patrol team in fluorescent yellow jackets took less than two minutes to reach the scene – with one suspect held in a citizen’s arrest until a police car arrived around 15 minutes later, residents say.
For Daniel and his neighbours, it proved their ongoing investment was worth it – with issues on his street stretching back years.
He said: “Our neighbours were tied up in their own home in a burglary around 20 years ago.
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“The neighbourhood came together after that to look at what options were available.”
They initially hired a different protection firm before settling on LSS around eight years ago.
Daniel said: “If I go to a nightclub I expect someone to be on the door.
“If I go to a private members club I expect someone to be there. If I go to an airport I expect someone to be there. Why should that be exclusive to commercial premises?”
He said the fee he pays means a guard can be at his house within two minutes of a report.
“You can’t get Sky TV for less than £100 a month today,” he said. “What price do you put on the value of your family, your security and protection?
“We have regular, randomised visits from the patrols to each and every home in the area.
“We also have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group which the guard is part of and when we share messages in there about people acting suspiciously, knocking on doors etc the guard will investigate.”
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They also have sensors outside the perimeter of their homes that send an alert directly to LSS, meaning they can be “there before the crime is committed”, according to Daniel.
He went on to say: “If someone breaks into your car and steals some contents from it, all you’re going to get is a crime reference number for an insurance claim.
“You’re not actually going to get anybody to come down and dust for prints, take photos, investigate.
“The ability to have a police officer attend your home is usually a forensic one who’s mopping up after the event.
“Unless a gun is used and shots are fired, police resources generally don’t attend a burglary.”
Initially he and his neighbours hired another private security firm but they eventually switched to LSS.
Daniel added that LSS are far from a “vigilante group”, and “work closely with police”.
Ultimately, he believes private security forces will become increasingly popular with Brits in the future.
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LSS boss Lee Turner, 41, says his team can spot a crook a mile off – and have had their work cut out in the area, with “one particularly prolific criminal”.
The shady character even told the private cops “don’t worry guys, I won’t touch any of the houses with LSS signs on them”.
Lee added: “It became a running joke but we had to keep an eye on him.
“We used to catch him constantly. He’d walk along the road and try the car handles between 1am and 4am in the morning. He’d break into cars to steal loose change, sunglasses, bags etc.
“Our patrol car would come along, pick him up, do a citizen’s arrest, police would come and cart him away and then a few weeks later he’d be back out again.
“We caught five or six times. He went to prison, came back out, was committing crime again, was caught again. It was a running joke.”
Mr Turner has built a security empire over the past two decades, offering security “schemes” to neighbourhoods concerned about crime.
He said he often sees a surge in requests for quotes when a high profile crime is publicised.
“What happens is if something in the media happens, like Raheem Sterling gets his watch nicked, we get quite a lot of phone calls,” he explained.
“People go ‘Christ, if they’re getting broken into, what’s stopping it happening to us?’”
Referring to Labour’s early release prison scheme, he added: “It doesn’t help that they’re now releasing prisoners involved in car theft and burglary early because the prisons are so full.”
Mr Turner said he has noticed recently that his client base is starting to shift from the ultra-rich.
He added: “We’re seeing a big growth in houses that are under a million quid which we’re now looking after, which is a little unusual. They’re usually a lot more than that.”
Paul Barnes, 46, operations director at the Crown Protection Service, another private company, told The Times security was “on everybody’s radar now as it is a conscientious buyer’s priority”.
A Hertfordshire police spokesman said they received a report at 5.37pm on December 16 2025 of “suspicious activity”.
They continued: “Officers were dispatched to the scene and arrived in 10 minutes (5.47pm) where they arrested two men on suspicion of going equipped to steal.”
They added the force’s officers “routinely” patrol the village with “response teams based in patrol vehicles around the clock, both as a deterrent to criminals and responding to any reports of suspicious activity”.
“We would always urge the public to call 999 immediately to report suspicious activity or crimes in action to facilitate the quickest possible police response.”