LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Thursday that 3,000 neighbourhood officers and community support officers will be in place next year.

Starmer said during a visit to the headquarters of Cambridgeshire Police that the government plans to deploy 13,000 new neighbourhood officers by 2029 under the "Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee," a measure aimed at ending the "culture of crime that is destroying our communities." This initiative represents an over 50 percent increase in neighbourhood policing.

ALSO READ: Rise in hate crimes: UK unveils new extremism definition

Details published on the Downing Street website on Wednesday outlined key features of the initiative, including the requirement for every neighbourhood to have named, contactable officers to address local issues, dedicated teams to carry out regular patrols in town centres and crime hotspots during peak hours, and a designated lead for tackling antisocial behaviour in every police force across England and Wales.

During his visit, Starmer said that neighbourhood policing was turning into a "postcode lottery" where the quality of service depended on where people lived. "The proportion of people who saw a uniformed officer in their local area was halved in the last decade, and the result: crime is soaring in our town centres, and public confidence in policing is going down," said Starmer.

READ MORE: UK police aim to fix 'stop and search' where Black people most affected

This initiative is part of the Labour government's broader effort to address rising street crime. According to the Crime and Policing Bill, currently under scrutiny by Parliament's Public Bill Committee, the government plans to scrap the effective immunity for theft of goods valued under 200 pounds ($259.37) and remove the need for a warrant to search properties where stolen items have been electronically geolocated -- a measure designed to help police crack down on rampant phone thefts.

Home Office analysis of data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that an estimated 78,000 people, or more than 200 per day, had their phones or bags stolen in the year leading up to March 2024, more than double the 31,000 "snatch theft" incidents reported in the same period ending March 2023.