Crossword Genius

Neighbourhood police officer, authoritarian (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

district

'neighbourhood' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'police officer authoritarian' is the wordplay.
'police officer' becomes 'di' (detective inspector).
'authoritarian' becomes 'strict' (I've seen this before).
'di'+'strict'='DISTRICT'

(Other definitions for district that I've seen before include "A quarter" , "'Area, territory (8)'" , "Precinct, section" , "Area of town or country" , "Area of a town or city" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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