Communities are given a voice and chance to shape local policing priorities, as the results of a survey commissioned by PCC John Campion are published.
The Town and Parish Council Survey found that the majority of respondents felt police were doing a good or fair job, but that there are a number of areas to work on including police visibility, rural crime and road safety.
The majority of respondents said that crime and anti-social behaviour was ‘not a big problem’ in their community, were familiar with their local policing teams and found the police accessible, however there were some mixed responses around confidence in the police, and how well they work with local councils.
Commissioner John Campion said “The findings are reflective of the plans already in place, reinforcing the understanding of the relationship between communities and police. It is reassuring to see that the relationship between councils and police is generally good at a local level but there are some clear areas to improve- visibility of frontline policing is a priority and I have invested to protect this.
Rural crime and road safety are other priorities, with campaigns to address and my commitment to ensure police have the resources to tackle these issues at an operational level.”
107 Town and Parish Councils took part in the survey which was online for three months. A summary of the results is below:
Local Policing:
- 60% of councils thought police were doing a good or fair job.
- 64% thought police visibility was poor or very poor.
- There was a mixed response as to how well the police are working with the council- 38.3 strongly or tended to agree that the police work well with the council.
- There was a mixed response around confidence in the police (32.7% tend to, or strongly agree they have confidence in the police to resolve crime and disorder issues raised)
Contact and engagement:
- 33.6% contact police every 2-6 month to report local issues.
- There was mixed response as to how police respond to crime and disorder issues or incidents raised (24.3% said good or excellent, 31.8% said fair, 20.6% said poor or very poor)
- The majority (66%) found it easy to contact police (email was the favoured method by 77.6%- 2.8% said social media)
- 33.6% says they contact police every 2- 6 months to discuss local issues/ invite police to meetings.
- 27% say police never attend council meetings (26% said they attend every 2-6 months)
- 57% are very familiar or somewhat familiar with SNTs (Safer Neighbourhood Teams)
Crime and ASB issues:
- Crime and ASB- 6.5% said this wasn’t a problem, 57% said not a big problem, 25.2% said fairly big problem 4.7% said very big problem
- The key issues raised were around rural crime and road safety
- Other issues were drink driving, fly tipping and illegal traveller camps.
To view the results of the survey in full click here:
Issued: Monday 5th November 2018
