The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Leicestershire is proposing to pay for street wardens in market towns across the force area.
That’s run into vocal opposition from the local Police Federation, the rank and file police’s trade union, which has accused the PCC Rupert Matthews of privatising the police.
Rupert Matthews said: โFrom the outset, I have been clear that crime prevention is my overriding priority. By preventing crime, we reduce pressure not only on policing but also on other emergency services, the criminal justice system and probation, and social care.
โI am confident that street wardens will play an effective role in strengthening crime prevention and boosting community confidence across our two counties. Evidence from areas where they are already established shows that their visible presence deters crime, while their ability to defuse tense situations helps reduce violence and anti-social behaviour.
โI should emphasise that street wardens are not a replacement for police officers, but they are a valuable complement, easing demand on police resources. Residents consistently tell me they want a visible, reassuring presence on their streets, which prevents crime and helps them feel safe.
โWhile I cannot stipulate where police officers are deployed or have any say over whether they should be called away from their patrol duties to other incidents, I can ensure that these street wardens remain a highly visible, reassuring presence in the areas where public feedback and data shows they are needed.โ
Details
He added that a competitive tender process will begin shortly, and expected wardens in place before Christmas. The successful contractor would have to be Security Industry Authority approved. The contract will be ‘in the region of ยฃ2m’; by comparison, the force’s budget for 2026-27 is ยฃ279m, and the temporary Chief Constable David Sandall has pointed to a deficit of ยฃ4.7m.
Budget
He pointed to such private uniformed patrols in the county in Ashby, Melton Mowbray and Hinckley; and elsewhere in the country. While in recent years non-police patrols of public places has become so common as to be uncontroversial, the difference that has roused the Leicestershire Federation’s ire is that the PCC is proposing to use money from the police budget, whereas typically other hired non-police patrollers come out of other budgets – typically from business improvement districts (paid for by businesses in a BID area) or councils. The Rishi Sunak Conservative Government gave central Government money to PCCs for ‘hot spot’ policing against anti-social behaviour, spent sometimes on police (as overtime), sometimes on private contract guarding.
Andy Spence, chair of Leicestershire Police Federation, poured cold water on the PCC’s idea. Spence said: โWe have seen first hand how this works and put simply it does not work. The security marshals were not allowed to run after shoplifters, they would not be able to provide CCTV, they canโt obtain evidence for investigations. The money is best spent on the police force.”
Background politics
As for party politics, Rupert Matthews by defecting to Reform from the Conservatives in August 2025 became Reform’s first PCC. He was elected in 2021 and 2024 as a Conservative; Labour meanwhile last year announced that PCCs would be abolished by 2028 as part of their policing reform. The Reform website states that ‘Reform UK will restore visible policing’.
The force is without a permanent chief constable since the retirement last year of Rob Nixon.
More in the June 2026 edition of Professional Security Magazine.
Photo by Mark Rowe: street art, Leicester city centre car park.
