Thames Valley Police are understandably feeling pretty pleased with themselves this week after a report graded the force as one of the best in the country for using neighbourhood policing to respond to communities' concerns.

The statistics, and we know what use can be made of those, showed the force had improved in every major performance category - apart from crime reduction, where progress was considered "stable".

Now we are not quite sure where that leaves us, as we always thought that 'reducing crime, reducing the fear of crime' was the force's mission statement, to use the business parlance which has permeated modern policing.

It is a slogan, but it neatly encapsulates what most people actually want from the police.

The problem is that week after week we report the reality of life in the county and too often we hear from communities crying out for a visible police presence and victims of crimes, who are still waiting, days later, for an officer to appear on their doorstep. Police are also guilty of coming to us with appeals for witnesses to crimes that happened weeks ago. That said, we support and commend Thames Valley's shift back to neighbourhood policing. We also understand the programme is in its early days and relies on the recruitment of more community support officers, which in turn will require financial support from local authorities. So two cheers for the force's performance this time.