The Home Office evaluation of the National Reassurance Policing Programme published in 2006 provides strong evidence that a neighbourhood policing approach—which uses locally-based neighbourhood policing teams to target local community safety priorities—can reduce crime and perceptions of antisocial behaviour, and improve public confidence in the police, feelings of safety, community engagement and police patrol visibility.
The Home Office is monitoring and evaluating the neighbourhood policing programme across England and Wales, rather than the performance of individual teams, through a strategic research programme, the results of which will be published in due course.
The Home Office also continues to assess police performance, including the impact of neighbourhood policing, through the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF), while inspections by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary also provide a qualitative assessment of neighbourhood policing delivery.