Another problem, says Neil Dodds, who polices a housing estate in MiltonKeynes, north-west of London, is that local policing can actually increase crime or the appearance of it in the short term.
The scheme targets four growth areas - MiltonKeynes and the south Midlands, Ashford in Kent, the Thames Gateway in south Essex and north Kent, and a strip running from Peterborough to London.
They comprise Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and Sunderland in the north, Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham in the Midlands, and Bristol, London, MiltonKeynes and Portsmouth in the south.