THE chairman of Derbyshire Police Federation has welcomed a report that puts neighbourhood policing as its "bedrock."
Mark Pickard said he also felt the public wished to see officers visible in the street.
He was responding to a review this week by the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Stevens.
It said that neighbourhood policing "must be saved" and that the model is the "building block of fair and effective policing".
All local areas, he explained, should be given a guaranteed level of neighbourhood policing and a guaranteed response time when a crime is reported.
Mr Pickard, who represents more than 1,800 rank and file officers in Derbyshire, said: "I agree with the findings of the review in relation to neighbourhood policing being the bedrock of policing. I believe the public overwhelmingly wish to retain this form of visible policing within their communities.
"If we were to withdraw from this type of policing then we would lose valuable support from the public and with it intelligence from which we base our policing model, ie intelligence-led policing," said Mr Pickard.
"While policing is much more complicated and takes in broader areas than ever before, I would maintain that many excellent, high-profile successes tend to be based on that tiny first snippet of information from within our communities."
In 2011, Labour commissioned Lord Stevens to lead the Independent Police Commission after the Police Federation's own calls for a Royal Commission on policing were rejected by the Government.
His report made 37 recommendations, including cybercrime experts to be recruited directly into police forces and restrictions on using private firms such as G4S and Serco for policing functions.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour, in launching the commission, had asked Lord Stevens to examine what could be done ''without additional resources''. She said: ''There is a retreat going on from neighbourhood policing, a retreat from bobbies on the beat.''
In the report Lord Stevens has also called for an overhaul of standards to make policing more professional.
The report says there should be a publicly available register of officers showing their qualifications while those found to have committed serious misconduct should be struck off.
Steve White, vice-chairman of the Police Federation nationally, said: ''We're a little concerned that if you go down (this route) and you're accountable to a body rather than the law, what's to stop police officers out there saying 'actually I need to make this arrest because I need to prove to the chartered body that I'm doing my job properly'?"
