Every household in England and Wales will be given a mobile phone number to call new neighbourhood police teams, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced.
Each home will also get an email address for the officer responsible for their street and neighbourhood police chiefs will have to hold regular public meetings under the plans, to be rolled out by April.
The £325million-a-year plan, one of the UK's biggest shifts from centralised policing, has been drawn up by Mr Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
Under the system, trialled in Lambeth, south London, each council ward will have its own neighbourhood policing team, made up of police and community support officers.
Announcing the measures, Mr Brown said: "We know people want more say about their community and a visible and accessible police service that deals with local problems and anti-social behaviour. Whilst crime is falling, too many people have a real fear about their communities and feel detached from their police service.
"That is why we've been working with the police on a new style of policing to address local priorities, improve public confidence and make neighbourhoods safer.
"Neighbourhood policing is about giving local people power over how their streets are policed. It is a major step towards a new kind of policing, one in which the citizen has real influence.
"The excellent progress made by established teams such as the one in Lambeth are now starting to be rolled out across the country so by April everyone will be able to get involved."
Chief Inspector Patrick Beynon, from Lambeth Borough, said the trial had helped contribute to a 0.9% overall reduction in crime in the area, while Chief Constable Matt Baggott, the head of the national neighbourhood policing programme, said the scheme was "the best thing the police service has done for decades."
