HMICFRS report: Public satisfaction with police on the increase

HOW the police service recovers when it falls below community expectations and fewer officers doing the ‘right things’ are key factors behind positive feedback from the public, Essex Police Federation says.

The HMICFRS Public Perceptions of Policing in England and Wales report interviewed more than 17,000 people and revealed that 60% of them were satisfied with their local police, an increase of 7% from last year.

However, just one in four respondents said they were happy with how often they had seen a police officer in their community over the three months preceding the survey.

“The positive feedback is the result of some pretty big steps being taken internally with how we deal with dissatisfaction, how we deal with contact, how we look to recover our service when it falls below the expectations of our community,” Essex Federation Chairman Steve Taylor said.

“With a small team at headquarters and with an increased rollout of IT to support those functions, it’s encouraging to see that they have had a positive effect.

“There’s fewer of us in the job doing more with less so it’s good to know these fewer officers are being seen to be doing the right thing the majority of the time.”

On the flip side, respondents used the survey to express concerns about a perceived lack of bobbies on the street. But that’s not a good measurement of the health of the police or the service it provides to the public, Steve believes.

“I don’t think it’s a helpful barometer because it suggests it’s a negative if an officer is not seen.

“We know from geofencing and telematics and tracking of the vehicles, if some of our rural communities feel they don’t see an officer, that does not mean that those officers aren’t there.”