It is for individual police forces and authorities to ensure the effectiveness of neighbourhood policing in their area. The Government will hold forces to account for progress through the single top-down target we have set them to improve public confidence that crime and anti-social behaviour issues are being tackled locally, and in the light of inspection work by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC).
HMIC has inspected every force in England and Wales to assess their capabilities in delivering neighbourhood policing and developing citizen focus. HMIC’s assessment in September 2008 was that all forces, including Essex police, had met this standard.