The East of England Co-op has beefed up its security services to launch a new arm of the business.

Eastern Daily Press: Scott Walker, East of England Co-op anti-social behaviour officer. Picture: Anglia Picture AgencyScott Walker, East of England Co-op anti-social behaviour officer. Picture: Anglia Picture Agency (Image: Anglia Picture Agency)

Co-op Secure Response will offer services from CCTV to site guarding for businesses and local communities.

It evolved from the EDP/EADT Top100 firm's in-house security team, which was established in 2011 to protect its food, funeral, travel and events services.

Its expanded arsenal includes intruder and fire alarms and recovery services, as well as tailored technology for schools, churches, lone workers and rural teams.

The new service was launched at an event at the East of England Co-op's head office at Wherstead Park where businesses were able to visit its ARC monitoring centre, which receives feeds from 7,000 CCTV cameras.

Lee Hammond, head of security at Co-op Secure Response, said: 'This is a really exciting time for us, as we have worked hard over the past seven years to ensure the services we offer are the very best for us and our clients' businesses.'