We’re rolling out our new evidence-based neighbourhood policing programme to forces in England and Wales
Next phase of neighbourhood policing training launched
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The College of Policing is advancing its vital work to strengthen neighbourhood policing across England and Wales, delivering the specialist training that officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) need to serve their communities effectively.
Our neighbourhood policing programme represents a fundamental shift in how we approach community policing. The training recognises neighbourhood policing as a specialism and creates clear career paths. Officers can stay in these roles longer and build stronger relationships with their communities.
Our mission
This programme symbolises our mission of leadership, standards and performance, as we're:
- enhancing leadership capability by developing officers who can build meaningful relationships with residents and businesses
- ensuring the highest standards through evidence-based training that equips officers with proven techniques for community engagement, problem-solving and tackling anti-social behaviour
- elevating performance by giving officers the specialist skills they need to prevent crime and address the issues that matter most to local communities
Phase one
More than 80,000 online training modules have been completed since the neighbourhood policing programme first launched in June 2025, showing officers are engaging with this transformational programme.
Even more impressive are the outcomes, with officers achieving a 45% improvement in assessment scores.
This builds on our successful year-long trial with over 1,000 officers from 11 forces, which showed impressive results. Alongside data showing significant improvements in knowledge and skills, our evaluation highlighted officers and PCSOs reporting renewed enthusiasm for neighbourhood policing and feeling confident in applying their knowledge obtained during the training.
Sergeant Kavhita Sahota, Derbyshire Constabulary:
One of the great things about delivering this training is having people from all different areas of Derbyshire who police very different communities coming together in one classroom, sitting and sharing best practice and talking about what worked well for them, what didn't, going away with ideas and contacts as well.
People have been able to make contacts that they never would have before. It's been really well received, everyone's really enjoyed it and they're utilising the skills and the knowledge that we're delivering to them to go out there and better serve our communities and what more can we want from our neighbourhood officers?
PC Sameer Jassat, Northumbria Police:
So, in my opinion, neighbourhood policing should be recognised as its own specialism within the police. It's very different to all the other departments, but what's great about neighbourhood policing is we're the sort of the face, the name on the streets for the community itself.
And our main role is to proactively go out into our neighbourhood areas, meet our communities and our members of the public, build that rapport, build that trust, and proactively tackle crime as opposed to responding when it's already happened.
Temporary Inspector Nicola MacGregor, College of Policing:
We are training, equipping people with the skills, equipping people with the knowledge and equipping people with the ability to work with partners and also with your community. And by giving the same training to all forces in England and Wales, we're doing so to a standard. And that standard is set at a high bar. And the training is designed to challenge and to really push you to think about how you can best use the resources that you've got, you can best use the knowledge that you have, to get the best outcome for the community whilst also balancing that against the demand that we also face as a service.
Phase two
Phase two delivers intensive classroom-based training that builds on the initial online training, which launched earlier this year. Officers learn:
- collaborative approaches to community engagement
- evidence-based problem-solving techniques
- effective strategies for tackling anti-social behaviour
They complete rigorous assessments and gather real-world evidence through their occupational competency portfolio, demonstrating their ability to work to national standards.
Safer Streets
This work sits at the heart of the government's Safer Streets mission, forming a key part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee performance framework by ensuring every community benefits from officers trained to consistent, high standards. This investment in specialist training helps rebuild public confidence by ensuring officers have the capabilities communities want to see from their local officers.
It means whether you live in a city centre or rural village, you'll benefit from having neighbourhood officers trained to a consistent and high standard, equipped with the specialist knowledge and skills to understand local problems, build community relationships, and develop effective solutions.
Next steps
Looking ahead, we're continuing our work to develop the complete neighbourhood policing programme. We're developing additional training modules on:
- prevention and working in partnership
- managing offenders
- tackling serious and organised crime through neighbourhood policing
We're also creating specialist leadership training for those who manage neighbourhood teams, and we expect the next phase of the training to be released in 2026.
Through this programme, we're delivering on our vision of trusted and effective policing that cuts crime and keeps people safe. Every officer trained, every skill developed, and every community relationship strengthened contributes to safer communities and strengthens public trust in policing.
