FROM the platform outside his office, high in a building made of chilly shipping containers, Michael Smith can gaze down upon the bright lights of Brixton. He is the director of the Brixton Business Improvement District, a group of local businesses keen on improving the area. In this part of south London, which has seen an extravagance of bars, clubs and restaurants appear in recent years, that includes making the streets safe. To do so, since August the organisation has been paying for two extra police officers through MetPatrol Plus, a scheme run through the London mayor’s office. As the police are squeezed, such ideas have growing appeal.

MetPatrol Plus has been in place since 2008 (a variation of it existed before then). It is dubbed “buy-one-get-one-free”, or BOGOF, policing; local authorities, business improvement districts and parish councils pay for police officers and the Met then matches their funding, meaning areas get two cops for the price of one. Prices range from £66,000 ($84,000) a year for a constable to £95,000 for an inspector. Across 24 of London’s 32 boroughs 348 officers are currently funded in this way.

The extra coppers can be used to tackle particular local concerns. In Newham they accompany council officers to deal with dodgy landlords. Brent wants them to focus on dealing with gangs and violence against women and girls. In Brixton they work with nightclubs to crack down on drug-dealers and pickpockets. Mr Smith’s business organisation has provided its two officers with mobile phones so companies can contact them directly.

Boosting police numbers might lessen Britons’ long-standing anxiety about their visibility. Changes in crime trends and policing methods, as well as budget cuts, mean fewer officers walk the streets. In June the head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council said the era of bobbies on the beat was ending. According to a poll in August by Ipsos MORI, a third of people said they had not seen a uniformed police officer in their local area in the past year.

The capital has lost fewer officers than other forces—just 4% between March 2010 and March 2016, compared with a fall of 17% across the rest of England and Wales. But in London the number of community-support officers, civilian staff used to bolster the police who are often the ones seen in the streets, has plunged from 3,832 in October 2011 to 1,480 today. Mr Smith is keen to make sure his BOGOF officers are out in Brixton. After dealing with an aggressive beggar in a Brixton coffee shop recently, they handed the case over to the local police to avoid being tied up in court for days.

With money for policing in short supply (the Met’s budget has been cut by almost a fifth since 2011), those paying for extra officers want to make sure they are exactly that—extra. Mr Smith checked Brixton’s policing numbers and rotas carefully before his officers started work. The Met is allowed to recall BOGOF officers in emergencies, such as riots, but they are not meant to replace normally funded police.

Such schemes raise some uncomfortable questions. What happens if the priorities of those paying for the officers do not align with those of the Met? Councils insist that no conflict has arisen so far, but the potential surely exists. Increasing the number of police in one area might result in crimes being displaced elsewhere. Gavin Hales of the Police Foundation, a think-tank, wonders if such schemes risk creating a two-tier police economy, with rich areas able to afford more officers, even if they need fewer.

Residents and community groups can theoretically hire their own BOGOF officers, though none has to date. In Hampstead, a posh bit of London, residents last year stumped up £210,000 in four weeks to pay for officers through the scheme. They were unable to get the idea off the ground after meeting some institutional resistance; Jessica Learmond-Criqui, one of those involved, reckons they were seen by some as wealthy types trying to get more protection. Expect more such arguments if the ranks of BOGOF bobbies grow.