A team of crimefighters will work with residents to rid their communities of anti-social behaviour.

Brighton and Hove City Council has appointed four experts to identify and improve crime hotspots across the city then work with the people who live there to fix problems.

The team is being funded by the Government for three years. They will work on six areas at a time, identified as most in need by audits they have been carrying out since they were set up last month.

Leader Matt Easteal and his three coworkers patrol the city at different times of day and night and mark them on a wide range of factors including vandalism and drug-taking, boarded-up shops, poorly-lit areas, whether there are CCTV cameras and how many times they see a police officer.

They knock on doors and speak to as many residents as possible about what problems they are experiencing and what they believe would make their neighbourhood a nicer place to live.

The officers use their findings and official crime figures to prioritise the areas most in need of help.

Mr Easteal , 42, said: "When you can see the difference that different departments can make working together in an area it's fantastic.

"The ideas of joined-up working and different departments acting together have been bandied about for years but only when you actually have a team who have a specific commitment to do that will it actually happen. I am really excited about the new job and the new team."

The team's first projects are in Tarnerland, east Brighton and Zion Gardens, a narrow alley near Churchill Square in central Brighton.

In Zion Gardens residents have said their main problems are people urinating against the walls of their houses, tagging on walls, drug taking and drug litter.

Meanwhile the police community support officer for the area has reported use of bins and back entrances to properties as temporary storage space for shoplifted goods and as drugs drop-off points.

The team hopes to spend money being offered for community schemes by the developers of the Quadrant on a lighting scheme.

They are also going to encourage local businesses to extend their back entrances and fence them off to stop criminals leaving goods there or exchanging drugs, and hope to arrange more frequent police patrols.