Public attitude survey - update

Report: 9
Date: 1 September 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

Findings from the 2004/05 Public Attitude Survey (PAS) provide support for the Safer Neighbourhood strategy and provide guidance to the MPS in developing a citizen-focused approach to policing. This report also outlines funding for the 2005/06 PAS, Crime Victim Survey and Safer Neighbourhood Survey.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. This report updates members on the findings from the 2004/05 Public Attitude Survey (PAS).

2. The content of the PAS is under continual review to ensure it gives a regular and timely indicator of Londoner’s attitudes to policing and provides strategically actionable findings. High-level MPS wide findings are submitted quarterly to Management Board and thereby fed directly into strategic planning. Findings are also disseminated direct to borough commanders in bespoke annual reports.

3. The PAS is a key tool in assisting the MPS develop its safer neighbourhood policy and citizen focused approach to policing, particularly in respect of the service it provides to victims of crime.

4. The PAS provides regular feedback to the MPS of the experiences and attitudes of Londoners. The coverage of the survey is kept under regular review to ensure it is responsive to changing priorities. For this reason, findings from one year are not always directly comparable with previous years. For 2005/06, for instance, a variation on the PAS is being conducted in Safer Neighbourhood wards (and some ‘comparison’ wards) to inform a comprehensive MPS evaluation. In 2004/05 the PAS was not conducted in the few existing Safer Neighbourhood wards. The total number of Londoners interviews in 2004/05 was 7784.

5. The MPS also conducts two other large corporate surveys: the Crime Victim Survey (CVS), which monitors satisfaction of reporting victims of selected crime types and the Safer Neighbourhoods Survey (see paragraph 11).

Neighbourhood matters

6. The PAS shows that there was a notable improvement in relations between the police and the community between 2003/04 and 2004/05, after a decline to its lowest level in 2003/04. The proportion of Londoners who now feel that relations between the police and public in London as a whole are ‘very’ or ‘fairly good’ is now 42%, up significantly from 25% in 2003/4 [1].

7. Overall, nearly half of Londoners (47%) are now satisfied with the way their neighbourhood is policed. Satisfaction levels dipped in 2000 and have stayed about the same since then.

8. Neighbourhood policing is a key element in improving public perceptions of the police and providing reassurance. Research has shown that the public wants more visible, accessible and responsive policing [2]. The MPS Safer Neighbourhoods strategy recognises the importance of providing the public with:

• A visible uniformed presence
  • PAS respondents who saw a police officer or Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) at least daily or weekly are significantly more satisfied.
  • Even amongst those most worried about crime (who tend to be the most dissatisfied with local policing), satisfaction is higher when they see police regularly.
  • Good progress is being made here: satisfaction with level of patrol has risen over the last two years.
• Regular feedback on the results of policing locally
  • Encouragingly, nearly half of Londoners feel very or fairly well informed about policing in London generally. We now need to ensure people are equally well informed about their local policing.
• The opportunity for personal contact with the police, and to get to know and trust local officers
  • 72% of Londoners in 2004/05 believe it is important to a know a local police officer
• Information about their local police officers, including contact details

9. Work is in planning - in conjunction with the MPA - to explore the content, format and frequency of information that the general public would appreciate. What we know now is that television is the main source of information currently (for 53% of Londoners) followed by national newspapers (36%).

10. As part of the strategy to monitor the impact of the introduction of Safer Neighbourhood teams, the opinions of residents of four Safer Neighbourhood Phase One wards were tracked between March/April 2004 and December/January 2005 [3]. In the four wards monitored:

• There were large falls in worry about crime and anti-social disorder, and corresponding improvements in feelings of safety during the first six months of the Safer Neighbourhood initiative.
• There were encouraging indications of improved satisfaction with the level of local uniformed patrol. There was some evidence that this is driven by increased police visibility.
• There was little evidence that residents were feeling better informed about policing in their area, though they did feel better informed about policing in London.
• Ratings of the police overall (the SPI measure) did not show much improvement, in part because levels of crime are believed to be on the increase by the public despite evidence from the British Crime Survey and recorded crime data to the contrary.

11. A more comprehensive evaluation of Safer Neighbourhoods is currently underway, covering 20 Safer Neighbourhood wards (and 3 control wards) and incorporating a panel of respondents who will be re-surveyed annually (the Safer Neighbourhood Survey). Baseline findings from the first sweep will be available in the autumn.

Victims matter

12. Becoming more responsive to the public who contact the police is a key element of developing a citizen focus. The forthcoming Quality of Service Commitment (QoSC) will require all forces to have standards in place by November 2006 covering the quality of service that local people can expect to receive when they contact the police. The value of this is highlighted by the PAS which shows that:

• Contact with the police has an important impact on public satisfaction with the police generally.
• Police officer behaviour drives victim satisfaction: if victims of crime feel that the police took their matter seriously and received feedback from the police about their case they are more likely to be satisfied with the police contact.

13. Victim satisfaction is currently at a reasonable level with just under two thirds of victims in the PAS (62%) currently satisfied with police actions.

14. To help improve on this figure yet further, the MPS commissioned five focus groups to help guide MPS policy and advice on victim care and the scope of the QoSC work. These looked at keeping victims and witnesses informed, the needs of victims of racist offences, the needs of young victims, the experiences of victims who report via front counters and the needs of black and minority ethnic victims. The main conclusions were that:

• Although overall the MPS demonstrates most of the qualities and expertise that victims and witnesses expect, not all our customers are equally satisfied. In particular, we could do more to improve the satisfaction of the young, the disabled, gay men and foreign nationals.
• Victims are realistic in what the police can achieve, but they do want to be kept informed of case progress.
• Victims would like to receive the name of a dedicated officer, more information on case progress and crime prevention advice.
• We need to ensure information provision is consistently applied and to think imaginatively about keeping victims and witnesses informed.
• We need to institutionalise a response to victims and witnesses that recognises the unique nature of individual experience and can provide a flexible and appropriate response.
• We need to ensure a consistently high level of service that includes: explaining to victims what is going to happen next and why; giving practical help; providing a contact name and number; offering crime prevention advice; offering victims support and providing a reference number.

15. The significance of citizen focus is highlighted in the developments of the MPS Corporate Strategy (2006-9). The appointment of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick, lead for Citizen Focus and Diversity in the MPS, acknowledges the importance the MPS places on this development.

C. Race and equality impact

The PAS sample for 2004/05 represents the diversity of the resident MPS population. The full report includes a bespoke analysis of views on crime and policing of black and ethnic minority Londoners. The additional focus group work specifically covered the views of some minority groups.

D. Financial implications

There are no new financial implications of this report. The costs of the MPS corporate surveys are covered under existing budgets. The £265,000 allocated from the MPA budget has been used to conduct follow-up surveys at three and six months after the rollout of the first 96 Safer Neighbourhood wards.

E. Background papers

• Public Attitude Survey 2004/05 Final Report. (MVA, 2005)

F. Contact details

Report author: Professor Betsy Stanko, Senior Advisor, Strategic Analysis DCC2

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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