A SECURITY company led by ex-police and military staff is providing an extra layer of protection to rural areas like some parts of Essex.

Blueline Security Limited is a security company which draws its staff exclusively from police and armed forces.

As part of an effort to offer more security in rural areas, last Wednesday saw the company complete an alarm and CCTV install for Gratech 4x4 in Maldon.

Sarah Howarth of Blueline Security said: "As ex police officers, we are understanding of the Police constraints around responding to every incident and the fact that in rural areas crime tends to rise due to response times being longer.

"At present our response time to an alarm activation is circa 7 minutes. We will attend the address with a K9 unit and conduct a full area search of the property and its perimeter checking for any signs of break in or criminality.

"Our marked patrol cars act as a fantastic deterrent when seen out and about at night in the rural areas and crime has been displaced in the current areas we do patrol."

They offer a range of security services from residential to commercial nationwide.

The cost of rural crime rose by more than 9 per cent to £54 million last year, which represented an eight-year high, according to a crime report from NFU Mutual, an insurance company.

And thefts of Land Rovers spiked in particular, according to the latest report by NFU, in 2019 the insurer's claims costs for theft of Land Rover Defenders rose 34 per cent to £2.1 million.

Gratech 4x4 said on their Facebook: "With the continuous rise of Land Rover and Range Rover theft crime, we are having the latest technology alarm and cctv installed by Blueline Security to keep all our customers vehicles as safe as possible whilst in with us."

And the security company are currently trying to drive their specialist community patrols into the Essex area.

Sarah said: "This is a membership based scheme so the more members we have the more patrols out we can have."

For more information email essex@bluelinesecuritylimited.co.uk.