ABOUT 100 uniformed staff - both regular police constables and new Police Community Support Officers - are being deployed on the streets around the county in a new focus on neighbourhood policing.

The initiative, named Together We Can Beat It, aims to stamp out anti-social behaviour and address fear of crime in Kent.

It marks a significant addition to the Kent Police Model, based on intelligence-led policing when it was created 10 years ago. It is hoped neighbourhood policing will enhance that by feeding back information from the front line.

Mr Fuller stressed: "What we want to see in Kent is an environment where people live and work which is actually safer. The best way to implement that process is through neighbourhood policing.

"I have got every confidence in the force being able to deal with all sorts of serious crime, but we also know that people are concerned with low-level nuisance crime.

"Neighbourhood policing will have the advantage of using local information and local knowledge; officers on the street will use this information to bring people to justice.

"We want uniformed officers to be seen as local problem solvers. We also want them to be thief takers."

He added that despite Kent's low crime rate, people were still very frightened of becoming a victim.

He added: "Neighbourhood policing will go a long way towards increasing not just safety, but also ensuring people feel safe."

Kent Police Authority are paying for the extra officers - with a total of £1.7 million being allocated from this years' and next year's budget.

John Palmer, chairman of Kent Police Authority, said: "The exuberance of youth will always be in our society, and in our communities, but it cannot be allowed to ride roughshod over the comfort and peace of the majority.

"This new approach will make the force more accessible, more responsive and more in touch to tackle the problems which concern many people in Kent today."