The Policing minister also raised the prospect of the police, fire and ambulance service merging into a single emergency service.
The comments come after David Cameron said that Britain only had a "relatively honest police force" in comments which were seen as showing how far esteem for the police has fallen since the 1950s when the TV series 'Dixon of Dock Green' reflected people's respectful view of them.
In a speech to the Reform think tank on Monday, Mr Green said officers should learn that friendliness builds relationships with communities, as seen during last year's London Olympics.
He said that "public faith in policing" had been "undermined" by recent revelations about the police spying on the family and friends of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence and the use of dead babies' identities to provide undercover false names.
He said: “The public reaction to the friendliness and openness of police at the Olympic Games shows how important relationship-building can be. A more open, polite, thoughtful, modern and representative police force can renew its relationship with the British public for the benefit of us all.”
He said: “The Team GB example shows very clearly that it does not matter how good you are – you can always get better.
“And when you think about the excellence our police display in so much of what they do, the prospect of them improving everything by just one per cent is an exciting one.
“So I want and expect to see a technologically savvy, well-managed, self-confident, open, transparent and scrupulously honest police force. The police have always made us proud. I want them to do so again.”
The comments were welcomed by Keith Vaz MP, chairman of the House of Commons' home affairs select committee, who said: "I think it is very good idea - good customer service is essential in delivering good and bad news."
But Labour said Mr Green’s comments were “deeply patronising”. Shadow policing minister David Hanson said: “I am sure a police officer tackling a pub brawl on a Saturday night in the town centre will take the advice of their Policing Minister to heart.
“Of course the police should be polite with the public but many will see Damian Green comments as deeply patronising as they have been doing it throughout their careers.
“The police should always act appropriately and face the consequences if they don’t - should they be polite of course they should and they don’t need Damian Green to tell them that.”
Mr Green also raised the prospect of merging the police, ambulance and fire services into a single emergency service.
He said: “There is clearly huge scope for collaboration between all three blue light services across the country and we have established a democratic model which could, in theory, oversee elements of all of them.”
One idea was for newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to oversee all emergency services, not just local police forces.
He formally confirmed ministers were looking at plans which could see the PCCs taking over all emergency services, following a review of fire services by Sir Ken Knight.
Mr Green said: “He (Sir Ken) raised the prospect of PCCs taking on responsibility for the fire and rescue service, which we are considering.
“Sir Ken’s thoughtful and well-judged work gave much food for thought on blue light collaboration and I am working with DCLG and Health colleagues on how it might be carried forward.”
He added: “Could PCCs end up overseeing both fire and ambulance services? That might be a long way down the road, but let us start thinking about it.
“Ask yourself the same question, why do we send three separate vehicles to a road traffic accident? If we were starting from scratch, would we organise ourselves in this way? I very much doubt it.”
Asked about Mr Green's coments on politeness, a Police Federation of England and Wales spokesman said: “British police officers are nationally and internationally recognised as being the most approachable and friendly in the world.
“The police service has an extremely strong rapport with the public and allegations surrounding the historic behaviour of a tiny minority should not detract from that.”
Turning to the possibility of the emergency services merger, the spokesman added: "While we agree there is scope for greater collaboration between the emergency services we need to first see how Police and Crime Commissioners settle into their existing role which remains in its infancy.
“Members of the three emergency services have very different roles, skills and powers which are easily recognisable to the public. It is difficult to see how a multi-purpose emergency service would work in practice given the distinct nature of these roles.”
The comments came as Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and London Mayor Boris Johnson are due to be quizzed by MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee later on Tuesday.
The Met Police chief is likely to be asked about the plebgate scandal involving some of his officers and former chief whip Andrew Mitchell.
Some of his officers have been arrested as part of the ongoing probe into last September’s spat in Downing Street.
A police log allegedly detailing the incident was leaked to the media and an email purportedly from a member of the public, which appeared to back the officers’ version of events, was also received by the Met.
But a major probe was launched after CCTV footage from Downing Street emerged that cast doubt on the officers’ version of events.
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