Register for a webinar that will share findings from new Centre research about what the public want from the police.
Watch the webinar
‘Trust and confidence’ in the police is, arguably, in a moment of crisis. A significant decline in public opinion is well evidenced by a range of surveys and other research – yet rarely do these confront the basic question of what the public wants from police. What is the service people think the police should deliver, and do they think police are achieving it?
In this seminar, our researchers will present results from a programme of research aimed at answering these questions.
Inspired by the idea of the Minimum Income Standard, the research team used an iterative focus group methodology to establish consensus on a set of activities and services that the police should be able to provide to everyone – a ‘Minimum Policing Standard.’ Three rounds of focus groups conducted in four UK locations revealed broad agreement on the importance of responding to local problems, neighbourhood police presence and engagement and fair treatment, all of which were observed to be lacking. Generic crime priority lists were not seen to be useful for thinking about how police should respond to and protect communities.
Secondly, the team translated the criteria developed in the focus groups into survey questions that were fielded in a representative survey of England, Scotland and Wales. Results suggest that few people think police are meeting minimum standards of service delivery, and that this feeds into the currently low, and fragile, levels of public confidence in policing.
The research reveals considerable social consensus on what service police should provide and a minimum standard to which a police service should adhere, coupled with widespread concerns that police are not, in fact, meeting these standards. There are clear messages here for those interested in improving trust and confidence in policing. Join us on Thursday 20 June to find out more.
Speakers
- Professor Ben Bradford (UCL, Centre Co-Investigator)
- Dr David Rowlands (University of Leeds, Centre Postdoctoral Researcher)
- Dr Christine A. Weirich (University of Leeds, Centre Postdoctoral Researcher)
- Chair: Professor Adam Crawford (University of York and University of Leeds, Centre Co-Director)