The results from this year’s Police Citizens’ Satisfaction Survey show that public trust and confidence in Police nationally remains high and stable at 78% - just up from the previous year’s result of 77%.
Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery Mark Evans says the latest Survey results reflect the high number of participants who said they had ‘full’ or ‘quite a lot’ of trust and confidence in Police.
“While trust and confidence in Police is stable, we still need to keep improving if we’re going to achieve our ambitious target of 90% of people feeling safe and having trust and confidence in Police by 2021,” says Mr Evans.
“Police is committed to working effectively with its partners to prevent crime and victimisation, target and catch offenders, and deliver a more responsive Police service to be the safest country.”
This year people’s perceptions of safety, for example their feelings of safety after dark in their neighbourhood, and Police’s role in the community are similar to those in 2016/17.
The latest results show that 82% of participants said they felt as safe, or safer, than they felt two years ago.
While those surveyed were generally positive about the service they received from Police, the latest results also highlight some areas for improvement.
Satisfaction with the overall quality of the service people received from the Police has decreased to 80% from 82% in 2016/17.
“With the increased Government investment in Police and a solid plan in place for delivering on this, we’re in a great position to build on the gains we’ve made as an organisation and see further improvement in all aspects of our service,” says Mr Evans.
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 2017 and 30 June 2018.
The Survey reflects Police’s dedication to improving the way it delivers services to the public.
“Police conduct 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. The survey also asks people who have had recent contact with Police about their service experience, including their overall satisfaction. These questions relate to Police’s commitment of service which includes treating the public fairly, taking individual circumstances into account, and providing good value for money.
You can find the full Survey results, along with previous years’ results here.