Welcome to the NPIA Neighbourhood Policing Programme

The NPIA Neighbourhood Policing Programme has been commissioned to support the Government’s vision for policing which is accessible and responsive to citizens` needs - highlighted in its White Paper Building Communities, Beating Crime. The Government is committed to having Neighbourhood Policing Teams in every neighbourhood across England and Wales by 2008 supported by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Neighbourhood Policing, your police; your community; our commitment. This matches the ACPO commitment to a greater emphasis on Neighbourhood Policing and provides an exciting opportunity for police and their partners to work together with the public to build confident communities that are safe and feel safe.
      
The Neighbourhood Policing approach is built upon the solid foundation of what has been demonstrated to work practically in terms of building safe and confident communities.   
        
Evidence based learning from various national programmes and Force initiatives has confirmed the value of the concepts around signal crimes, Reassurance Policing, community cohesion and as described in the Home Office White Paper Building Communities, Beating Crime.

The Neighbourhood Policing Model is supported by a number of Principles.  These teams will be known by and easily accessible to the public. Secondly, these teams will use the National Intelligence Model to direct their activities - focussing on those problems that the public have told police matter most to them. Lastly, Neighbourhood Teams will work closely, and take joint action, with Local Authorities, voluntary groups, businesses, criminal justice agencies and other partners to tackle these issues.

At the heart of this approach are three guiding themes. 

1. Firstly, to create permanent and dedicated teams that will have specific responsibility for each defined neighbourhood, and are familiar faces to those who live and work in that area.
2. Secondly, these teams will use the National Intelligence Model to direct their activities - focussing on those problems that the public have told police matter most to them. 
3. Lastly, Neighbourhood Teams will work closely, and take joint action, with Local Authorities, voluntary groups, businesses, criminal justice agencies and other partners to tackle these issues.

The principle role of the National Neighbourhood Policing Team is to support individual forces in their delivery and implementation of the Neighbourhood Policing model. Each force, Authority and their partners will work together to put in place a model which is specific to its own areas and communities.

The 43 Forces in England and Wales are all currently working to achieve the aim of having Neighbourhood Teams in place in every neighbourhood by 2008. Each force currently has a Pathfinder BCU operating Neighbourhood Policing and many forces have well established processes in place across other parts, if not all of their force areas. Some forces are still working on their processes. An update on a specific force can be obtained from individual forces via the links page.

In practical terms, Neighbourhood Teams are likely to consist of a combination of Police Officers, Special Constables, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and volunteers, who work together with staff from partner agencies and are based in the heart of local communities. 

On this website you can find out about the background, research, aims and principles that support Neighbourhood Policing, obtain practical guidance, advice and toolkits on how to implement its principles, find out about the latest programme news and progress across the country. You can also look up the most frequently asked questions and learn about the role and function of the Neighbourhood Policing Team and how to contact us.

We hope you find the site informative and useful.
 

 
Jerry Kirkby
Programme Director

Neighbourhood Policing - The Key Priority

Neighbourhood policing is a key priority for the next five years. The neighbourhood policing booklet, Your Police, Your Community, Our Commitment, sets out our vision for revitalised neighbourhood policing for the modern world – policing capable of dealing with 21st century challenges of crime and disorder.

We are working hand in hand with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office to roll out accessible and responsive neighbourhood policing across all forces by 2008,with every community benefitting from dedicated, accessible and visible neighbourhood policing teams – comprising of police officers, involving special constables, community support officers, volunteers, neighbourhood wardens and others too - with the communities knowing their local police officers and how to contact them.

Bexley - Street briefing

The Neighbourhood Policing Programme is already well underway to deliver on these commitments . A number of forces have already adapted their policing style to provide a more localised service and neighbourhood policing is common in many areas, including Merseyside, Surrey, Lancashire, Devon and Cornwall and many parts of London. Drawing on the experience of forces and learning from pilot initiatives, we have identified key features:

• dedicated mixed economy teams
• emphasis on local problem solving
• engagement with communities with a focus on public involvement and
  stronger partnership working
• mechanisms, such as joint tasking and co-ordination groups, to target resources at local priorities
• we will work closely with the police service to ensure that neighbourhood policing is fully integrated with other levels of policing and becomes core police business. It will require organisational and cultural change within forces
• by the end of 2005, there will be 43 pathfinder areas in BCUs across each force to help develop and accelerate learning and good practice; and we envisage that by 2007 half the country will be benefiting from neighbourhood policing.

The Launch of Neighbourhood Policing at Bramshill, April 2005