Someone to watch over us

The scenario is depressingly familiar. Bored teenagers hanging round a housing estate, hoods up, smoking cannabis, making communal areas a no-go for elderly residents. Young children are too scared to use the playground or basketball court. Adults become increasingly afraid to go out after dark but won't complain for fear of reprisals. Other gangs come onto the estate because they know it's a soft touch, sparking a turf war and an increase in mugging and drug dealing.

You'd think a situation like that would be a priority for the local police, but residents on Lambeth council's Roupell Park Estate in south London found they couldn't rely on help from an overstretched force. So when there was a spate of serious crimes in autumn 2002, the tenant management organisation decided something had to be done, and realised that it was up to them to do it.

Their experiment with a private security firm was so successful that 95% of tenants voted to pay £1 a week towards extra security, making the estate into a test case for this type of scheme. However, it's not as simple as it sounds: the most effective firms are prohibitively expensive and, as Roupell Park's story shows, if you get it wrong the consequences can be disastrous.

Things get out of hand
Roupell Park's story begins on 5 November, 2002. "We had a very active Bonfire Night," says estate manager Mark Browne. "The kids on the estate were having a firework war with kids from other estates. There were also some muggings and a rape, so we decided we needed to do something about security, and do it quickly."

But Roupell Park was something of a victim of its own success. "We knew we wouldn't get funding for CCTV because we had been rejected in the past – our crime figures weren't high enough," says Browne. "We weren't considered in need of regeneration."

The police couldn't help either, because although they knew who the main perpetrators were, they didn't have enough evidence to do anything about it. Also, Lambeth has the highest street crime figures in Europe, and with Roupell Park on the edge of a huge beat covered by just two policemen, the estate knew it couldn't rely on the force.

The police should be doing more, but it’s not going to happen. Security’s the responsibility of the estate

Julie David, Roupell Park resident

"The police should be doing more but it's not going to happen," says Jeff Panton, who's lived in one of the estate's 13 medium-rise blocks for 30 years. "Realistically, security's the responsibility of the estate."

Julie David, a mother of four young children, agrees. She says: "My car's been broken into twice and nothing's happened, even though the last time I saw them breaking in. I wouldn't bother to call the police if it happened again.

"Residents need to get involved in keeping the estate secure. They should be watching out for things and reporting any incidents, even if it's their friend's child."

Security guards are called in
The residents' committee decided to try out security guards over Christmas 2002 because school holidays were the main hot spots. Browne approached Wings Security, which already ran the estate's car clamping scheme and could get guards out quickly who fitted Roupell's requirements. "We wanted someone who had a physical presence, was local and had experience of a multicultural environment," explains Browne. "We had made some savings that year but the price wasn't an issue; we needed to make the estate safer quickly."

And that's exactly what happened. The guards Wings sent were "bloody huge", as Browne puts it, but more importantly they combined physical muscle with a genuine rapport with the local youths. "They engaged the kids on the estate so well that the kids began to seek them out to talk to them. We had them stationed at the main entrance from 4pm, which meant that gangs from other estates stopped coming here and our residents felt safer coming home from school, work and with their shopping."

The security guards were so popular that kids began to seek them out to talk to them

Mark Browne, estate manager

Roupell resident Alexandra Matien agrees that local knowledge and rapport, things the police don't have time to build up, are very important. "There needs to be someone here on the estate all the time to find out what's going on, what the real problems are and who the main troublemakers are. What can the police do? They just pass through here."

The success of the guards persuaded the committee to send out a ballot last February to see if residents would be prepared to pay a weekly £1 charge towards security. Of those who voted, 95% said yes, and the charge will be collected from April this year.

But, in the meantime, the long summer holidays were coming up and the estate didn't have the budget to carry on using Wings. Each guard cost £15 an hour, seven days a week, and with the estate's grant from Lambeth council being cut, the budget was diminishing. So Browne tried a cheaper security firm (he's not prepared to reveal its name), already used successfully on another local estate. The experience wasn't as happy. They performed a watching role, but didn't engage the kids. "The guards became almost a target, with the kids trying to provoke them," says Browne. "They didn't have the physical presence or personality of the Wings guards."

Neighbourhood wardens ruled out
Another option the committee looked at was the Neighbourhood Wardens scheme run by Lambeth council. Providing less brute force than security guards but aiming more at getting under the skin of problems, it seemed like a good option for an estate like Roupell Park which is plagued with low-level social disorder problems. The cost, however, makes it prohibitive, says Browne. "It would cost £80,000 a year for two wardens and they would be limited in terms of hours – they wouldn't be here when the pubs chuck out."

So what can the estate afford? "The £1 weekly charge will bring in £26,000 a year which will pay for one staff member, and we'll be looking to get match funding from the council or the ODPM for another," says Browne hopefully. The only sticking point is that Lambeth council is undecided as to whether the estate has the right to collect the money and is investigating whether it sets a precedent or not for other estates.

Browne realises that security isn't the only answer. "The youths need to be given alternatives to hanging round the estate, and we have provided some activities for them such as a football team. We've been asked for space for a pool table which we're looking at. Ideally I'd like to have a youth club but we don't have the money."