Since 2003, there has been an increased emphasis and, to an extent, rediscovery of community based policing. The previous decades had seen the development of 'crime management' approaches which put police into cars for rapid response and to patrol areas and brigaded police services into 'sectors' and away from the direct regular contact with the communities they serviced and provides an opportunity for the alignment of community crime prevention and reduction with police enforcement services.

The new initiatives link the practical understanding of the value of neighbourhood based police services with a government policy commitment to civil renewal through 'citizen focused' services. There are a number of models for the development of police services and these are linked to both the locally delivered and locally responsiveness of core policing, the strategic and tactical management and the governance of the police dealt with in the Policy and Reform section and, with increasing importance, to the provision of multi agency crime and disorder reduction services.