TY - JOUR

T1 - Drivers of public trust and confidence in police in the UK

AU - Merry, Simon

AU - Power, Nicola

AU - McManus, Michelle

AU - Alison, Laurence

PY - 2012/6

Y1 - 2012/6

N2 - The term public confidence' has become the key indicator of trust, legitimacy and consent in policing and it is this measure of confidence that has become the overarching conceptualisation of successful policing. This paper focuses on providing a greater understanding of drivers of public confidence in the police using three surveys of the same community: Community Safety Survey (N=4,499), Victim Satisfaction Survey (N=1,084) and the Anti-Social Behaviour Survey (N=301). Gender and age diferences were found, with females and older participants exhibiting higher confidence in policing. Non-criminal aspects of policing such as improved community cohesion and visibility were found to aid confidence. Further,crime-related policing was found to influence overall satisfaction following an incident with some crimes handled better than others (eg, burglary) and customer care needing improvement in certain areas (eg, updated information). Although this research found confidence levels to be positive overall, there was also evidence of the positive-negative asymmetry effect, where participants' confidence levels shifted following experience with the police. This paper provides further supportfor citizen-focused initiatives in which community focus and communication should be at the centre of strategies for improving confidence in policing.

AB - The term public confidence' has become the key indicator of trust, legitimacy and consent in policing and it is this measure of confidence that has become the overarching conceptualisation of successful policing. This paper focuses on providing a greater understanding of drivers of public confidence in the police using three surveys of the same community: Community Safety Survey (N=4,499), Victim Satisfaction Survey (N=1,084) and the Anti-Social Behaviour Survey (N=301). Gender and age diferences were found, with females and older participants exhibiting higher confidence in policing. Non-criminal aspects of policing such as improved community cohesion and visibility were found to aid confidence. Further,crime-related policing was found to influence overall satisfaction following an incident with some crimes handled better than others (eg, burglary) and customer care needing improvement in certain areas (eg, updated information). Although this research found confidence levels to be positive overall, there was also evidence of the positive-negative asymmetry effect, where participants' confidence levels shifted following experience with the police. This paper provides further supportfor citizen-focused initiatives in which community focus and communication should be at the centre of strategies for improving confidence in policing.

KW - trust

KW - confidence

KW - survey methods

KW - UK Police

U2 - 10.1350/ijps.2012.14.2.268

DO - 10.1350/ijps.2012.14.2.268

M3 - Journal article

VL - 14

SP - 118

EP - 135

JO - International Journal of Police Science and Management

JF - International Journal of Police Science and Management

SN - 1461-3557

IS - 2

ER -