POLICING is being taken to the heart of the community in a bid to tackle crime.

Hartlepool is to be among the first areas in the country to pilot the Home Office's Neighbourhood Policing initiative, which aims to make people feel safer and more secure by reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.

Dedicated teams of officers will be based across the town, enabling them to respond quickly to any reported incidents and outbreaks of anti-social behaviour.

Superintendent Steve Ashman, Hartlepool Police District Commander, said: "These officers will be the face of policing, known and trusted by their local communities, and they will be there to tackle the issues that matter most to the community at the times they are needed."

A meeting of the Hartlepool North Area Police and Community Safety Consultative Forum, at West View Community Centre, heard the plans for the future delivery of policing in the town.

Supt Ashman said: "People are telling me they have never felt less safe, people feel more worried about crime than ever before. There is this general picture that crime is a tremendous problem.

"This is the benefit of this pilot, the officers will be working in the ward and will be taking notice of what residents want them to do.

"If we told you more often, more readily and more openly, you would possibly be more assured that crime is coming down in the town."

The pilot scheme will be carried out by dedicated Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) based in each of the town's 17 council wards.

Their main role will be to deal with community problems and priorities, with emphasis being placed on longer-term problem solving.

Resident and local councillor Mary Fleet wanted reassurances that once the pilot was over, policing would not return to how it was.

She said: "We have to welcome this idea, but we have to be realistic - that the problem won't just go away. We don't want things to change again, once the pilot has ended."

Leaflets providing more information about Neighbourhood Policing, which will be put in place across the town from April 3, are to be delivered to every home in the town over the next few months.