Recommendation 16

We commend the efforts of police forces to maintain business-as- usual policing, particularly the importance attached to maintaining neighbourhood policing. Nonetheless, the disorder and subsequent investigations have had a knock-on impact on other areas of policing, including neighbourhood policing. The Government’s focus on strengthening neighbourhood policing is welcome, as is the flexibility that the Government is allowing forces to recruit to neighbourhood teams. However, it is important that the right mix of staff, including experienced officers, are being brought into neighbourhood policing teams. The use of numerical targets for recruitment, at a time when police budgets are under pressure, risks introducing an incentive to hire cheaply. (Conclusion, Paragraph 58)