PRIVATE security officers equipped with handcuffs and stab vests are coming to the streets of Southampton to protect residents from crime, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Residents are being urged to pay £3.15 per week or a one-off payment of £163.80 for protection from “dangerous, unpredictable criminals”.

But an MP and a senior councillor have accused the firm behind the scheme of “scaremongering” and warned residents not to part with their money.

It comes as the city council is expanding its own team of patrol officers, dubbed “stormtroopers” by one opposition councillor.

The Atraks service claims it will offer:

  • Dedicated patrols up to 60 times every 24 hours in every community that signs up.
  • Special patrols outside schools.
  • Escorts to accompany people to shops and banks.
  • Emergency response to alarms.
  • Dog handlers to disperse street gangs.

But the “elite, highly trained” staff will not have any more official powers than an ordinary citizen.

Promotional leaflets have been distributed to thousands of homes across Southampton.

The website of the firm behind the scheme, Thornhill-based Hampshire Crime Prevention Services Ltd (HCPS), features links to stories of muggings, shootings and stabbings in the city.

Quick response HCPS says its patrol officers, who are also trained to help fire evacuations, will respond within ten minutes and often ahead of real cops and firefighters.

Up to eight officers will be on duty within three-mile zones, patrolling on foot and in cars.

HCPS boss Dave MacLean, a former security guard, said he was “passionate about reducing the fear of crime” and said the Atraks service would be “the first of its kind in Hampshire”.

He said he had eight officers ready to hit the streets and 1,750 residents in Shirley, one of the three areas targeted, had already signed up.

The scheme would go ahead when around three-quarters of residents in a particular community signed up as “members”, or they would get their money back, he said.

A free three-day trial in Shirley is planned for next month.

Mr MacLean said all officers would be registered with the Security Industry Authority, a trade body, and trained on how to use “reasonable force” to arrest and detain criminals.

For example, someone caught carrying a knife would be “tackled to the floor in a controlled manner” and “disarmed”, he said.

Handcuffs would be used as a “restraining tool” during a citizen’s arrest until police arrived.

Mr MacLean stressed the service was independent from the council and police, and officers wound wear navy blue outfits with “Atraks Community Patrol” logos.

He admitted: “There is a danger that people think we are police, but it’s not something you can avoid when you put on a stab vest.”

Southampton Test MP Alan Whitehead has already been contacted by a number of concerned constituents.

He questioned the checks and safeguards and said he feared the scheme may raise “false expectations”.

He warned: “People are being asked to pay £3 per week for a service that may never exist. I really don’t think the public should have anything to do with it.”

The city council’s Cabinet member for community safety, Councillor Royston Smith, said he also doubted the service could live up to its claims.

“I think it’s dangerous to be going around scaremongering people for financial gain. Many of the things that people will be scared of are mostly perceptions. It’s something I feel very uncomfortable about. Their tactics, by playing on people’s fears, are despicable.”

He said he had asked the council’s trading standards department to investigate.

The cost of real policing for Hampshire taxpayers is £2.73 per week for an average Band D property.

A Hampshire police spokesman said the force was not endorsing Atraks.

“It is for individuals to decide if this is something they need or want. Atraks is a private security firm and is not connected with the police in any way. We would, however, be interested in speaking with them in more detail about the service they plan to provide.”

The spokesman added crime in Shirley was down 7.8 per cent since April, according to latest figures.