Frinton meets The Wire

The residents of genteel Frinton have clubbed together to hire their own private security force, revealed yesterday's Guardian. Frinton's police station closed 20 years ago and now Walton-on-the-Naze's cop shop is to close too. This means that the only police force covering Frinton is based in Clacton, eight miles away, which has a much higher crime rate. Worried about possible slow response times, 300 residents are now paying £100 a year to AGS to patrol at nights.Though as the Guardian's Stuart Heritage points outs, it's not exactly The Wire. Frinton only got its first pub, the Lock and Barrel in 2000 (though there was a fight there in June) there's just one fish and chip shop and no amusements. Last year there were just 33 reported offences and only one drug crime. And the biggest threat to social order came back in 2009 when Network Rail tried to replace the iconic level crossing gates, which now rest in the garden next to the new automatic gates...