THE arrival of Sparta Security to patrol streets in Darlington should amaze no one. In fact, I’m surprised ventures like this have not been more prevalent.

What did surprise me was Sir Ian Blair’s comments (Echo, Nov 16). This man, who presided over the most outrageous ineptitudes of the Metropolitan Police in recent years, including the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and the failed cash-for-honours inquiry, is part of the reason the public turns to private companies to provide the reassurance that the police now fail to provide.

The Association of Chief Police Officers, which bends over backwards to promote political correctness for its political masters, has forgotten the role of the office of constable. One of their number recently said public nuisance was a matter for councils, not the police.

The policing of public events, such as sports matches, falls to stewards with only a minimal police presence. The policing of motorways and trunk roads is devolved to an agency with little or no power to enforce traffic law.

The bulk of police presence – using the term in its widest sense – is by community support officers who, again, cannot enforce other than minor offences.

If the public can only get support and reassurance from a private company, so be it.

Colin T Mortimer, Pity Me, Durham.

OH, how I wish Sparta Security had been up and running when I lived on Skerne Park, Darlington. My life was made a misery by a neighbour’s teenager and his friends yet Darlington Borough Council and the police did very little.

I had footballs kicked at my house day and night, teenagers shouting abuse, my fence constantly damaged and my back garden used as a toilet. I was threatened with an air rifle once and still nothing was done.

I installed CCTV (at my own expense as the council and police said I needed evidence) to record what the teenagers were doing.

The council and police would take weeks to come and view the evidence and then tell me there was nothing they could do.

In the end, the council offered me a house in a different area where I have no problems.

Well done to Sparta Security’s Francis Jones for realising that people need to feel safe, as I for one would have paid for his company’s protection.

He is right to say that former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has no idea how it feels to be burgled (Echo, Nov 16), although if he was I am sure that he would get a fast response.

Miss Nicola Halliwell, Darlington