Fifty neighbourhoods in the South-East of England are paying for private security patrols, rather than relying on the police to protect their homes, according to a report in the Evening Standard newspaper. Residents typically pay £1,000 a year for round-the-clock checks and panic buttons.

One private security firm, Crown Protection Service, provides dog patrols in 40 streets in fashionable Kensington alone. They say they have caught burglars and muggers in the act, leading to arrests by the police.

Naturally, the police, and academics at Britain's state-funded universities, are fulminating against private security and say it doesn't cut crime. But would residents fork out £1,000 a year if they thought there was no effect?

People want to feel secure on their own streets and in their own homes, and are prepared to pay for it. The state does not understand this demand - all it offers is a package of diverse services every four years at elections. Nor do state monopoly providers need to bother to respond to it. But security is now one of those essentials, like education and healthcare, that people increasingly are doing for themselves, having given up on the state.

It is good to see people voting with their feet and going private. The only trouble is that only the rich can afford it. As usual, it is poorer families, those whom the state most wants to help, that are left behind to suffer its dismal service.