The concept of Safer, Stronger Neighbourhoods has already proven successful on a national level. The National Reassurance Policing Programme (NRPP) introduced a form of Neighbourhood Policing across 16 sites in England between 2003 and 2005. The programme involved local communities in identifying crime and disorder issues in their neighbourhoods, which they then tackled together with the police and other partner agencies.

The results were consistently positive, showing that levels of crime, perceptions of anti-social behaviour, feelings of safety after dark, and public confidence in the police were directly attributable to the new policing approach.

The three critical elements were found to be:

• the presence of visible, accessible and locally known authority figures in neighbourhoods, in particular police officers and PCSOs
• community involvement in the process of identifying priorities and taking action to deal with them
• targeted policing activity and joint partnership problem-solving to tackle crimes and disorder that matter most to local people