POLICE fighting low-level crime and anti-social behaviour in Swindon must spend more time on the beat, Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted yesterday.

Mr Brown said it was unacceptable that many forces –including Wiltshire’s – had failed to live up to a promise to ensure neighbourhood police spent at least 80 per cent of their time visibly working in their assigned areas.

The commitment formed a fundamental part of the policing pledge to local communities, which all forces signed and which came into effect last year, he added.

A report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last October found that Wiltshire Police’s performance in meeting the objective had been “variable” and “falls short of the required standard”, adding that “remedial action is needed”.

Mr Brown, in a speech on crime yesterday, said: “This is a promise that every force has made to every community across the country.

“The recent report from the Chief Inspector of Constabulary found that, while most forces were working to achieve the 80 per cent commitment, some forces claimed ‘it would be too much bureaucracy’ to measure it, and some supervisors ‘had little idea’ of whether their teams were doing it.

“Let me be absolutely clear – that is not acceptable."

Neighbourhood policing teams, led by police officers, include community support officers, special constables, local authority wardens and volunteers.

They were put together to tackle persistent issues of concern in local communities and to boost confidence and accountability in local policing.

Robert Edge, the chief inspector for citizen focus at Wiltshire Police, said yesterday the force was now consistently meeting the 80 per cent target but admitted: “we know there is even more work to do.”

He said: “We are continuing to invest heavily in neighbourhood policing teams.

“It’s important that our local officers are visible in our communities so we continually measure our performance surrounding this and we now consistently achieve presence on a local area in excess of 80 per cent of an officer’s time.

“We have increased the number of special constables and volunteers within the force by over 150 people in the last year and are seeking to increase this number further this year.”

Next week, HMIC will publish for the first time online report cards of police performance.

Every force has committed to publishing on its website a clear explanation of how people can complain if standards are not being met.