A short, simple study to find out what people in Gloucestershire think of their police force launched this week.
The ‘Trust and Confidence’ survey has been produced jointly by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and the Constabulary to discover the public’s thoughts about the police, crime and safety in their area.
The results will help shape the future of policing in the county.
Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Evans said, “The concept of ‘policing by consent’ is central to the British model of policing and emphasises that the power of police to carry out their duties depends on the common consent of the public.
“But for policing by consent to be effective, the police must have the trust and confidence of the public, and it is the Police and Crime Commissioner’s job to be the public’s voice in policing.”
According to the latest the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) 68.2% of people questioned in Gloucestershire had confidence in the Police. With statistical variations, that could rise to 74% or fall as low as 62.5%. The peak average for police forces most similar to Gloucestershire was 68.4% rising as high as 70.3% or dropping as low as 66.6%.
But there is also evidence suggesting levels of trust and confidence in the police in England and Wales have declined in recent years and vary by ethnicity and gender.
Studies found that trust can be affected by people’s experiences when engaging with the police; people’s second hand conception of police conduct and performance, and how the police are portrayed in the media.
Mr. Evans said, “While it is gratifying that Gloucestershire comes out at least as well as, and better than, some other forces in terms of public confidence, we want that to aim higher. So carrying out our own analysis will give us a much clearer picture and help us know what else we need to achieve.
“Our survey will run for 365 days and we are hoping for as many responses as possible so that the data will help shape the work of both the OPCC and the Police in Gloucestershire.
“After the first quarter we will be running quarterly campaigns to target areas or demographics who have a low response rate to ensure our sample is representative of the whole county. As well as quarterly summaries, we will also produce an annual report based on the year’s findings.
“As well as collecting feedback throughout the year, we hope the initial rollout will gather a high level of responses so that we can pilot the analysis”.
The survey is based on the college of policing definitions for trust and confidence and the methodology is nationally recognised as best practice for this kind of study.
Participants do not have to be signed up to the app to complete the survey but will be encouraged to do so if it is something they would be interested in, as it will give them regular updates from their local neighbourhood officers.
