Thursday, 31 October 2019 - 10:01am |
National News

Police maintains high level of public trust and confidence

2 min read

Results from the 2018/19 Police Citizens’ Satisfaction Survey show that public trust and confidence in Police nationally remains high and stable at 79% - up from the previous year’s result of 78%.

Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery Mark Evans says the latest Survey results show a high number of participants said they had ‘full’ or ‘quite a lot’ of trust and confidence in Police in what has been a challenging year with the events of March 15.

“While trust and confidence in Police is stable, we still need to keep improving,” says Mr Evans.

“To help achieve our target we’re modernising the ways Police delivers services and connects with the communities we serve. We’re continuing to put the public at the heart of our services and make it easier for people to engage with us for help, advice, and support.

“We’re also committed to working effectively with our partners to prevent crime and victimisation and target and catch offenders.”

In the 2018/19 Survey, Police introduced a new general safety question ‘Thinking about where you live, the places you go to and the things you do, how safe or unsafe do you feel?’ to which 83% reported feeling very safe or safe.

Other results in 2018/19 relating to safety are slightly higher than the comparable results in 2017/18:

·         71% of those surveyed reported feeling very safe or safe in their neighbourhood after dark (compared with 70% in 2017/18) and

·         49% reported feeling very safe or safe in their local city or town centre at night (compared with 47% in 2017/18).

Survey participants are asked questions that relate to Police’s commitment of service, which includes treating the public fairly, taking individual circumstances into account, and providing good value for money.

In 2018/19, 80% of survey participants, who had recent contact with Police, were very satisfied or satisfied with the overall quality of Police service.

This result is the same as that in the preceding year.

The Police Citizens’ Satisfaction Survey has been run since 2008 and this year represents the results of more than 9,600 interviews, conducted between 1 July 2018 and 30 June 2019.

“Police conducts the Survey every year to measure how we’re doing and help us better direct our efforts. The feedback we get is invaluable and we thank those who have taken the time to give us their input,” says Mr Evans.

Survey participants are asked questions over the phone, online or in hard copy relating to trust and confidence, perceptions of safety and Police’s role in the community.

People who had recent contact with Police were asked about their service experience.

You can find the full Survey results, along with previous years’ results, on the Police national website.

ENDS

Issued by the Police Media Centre