The Government has introduced a single top-down public confidence target for the police service requiring 60% of people to be confident that the police and local councils are dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime issues that matter locally by 2012. This is measured through national and local surveys.

The confidence of local people and communities is crucial and surveys to measure public confidence enable us to better understand how effectively we are responding to local needs and priorities, helping the police and its partners to make your community a safer and better place to live. However, the focus on measuring public confidence does not mean that we no longer measure crime figures, arrests and detections; these all remain to help ensure that the Force is constantly working to improve its performance in preventing crime and bringing offenders to justice.

The performance of Dorset Police in achieving the single target is measured periodically through the British Crime Survey. However, this is also now supplemented by local surveys that enable a more detailed local breakdown of the findings which are reported on the National Crimemapper website as well as being published locally on the Dorset Police and Dorset Police Authority websites.

Dorset Public Confidence Survey Results

The specific survey question relating to public confidence asks respondents to what extent they agree with the statement that ‘The police and local council are dealing with the anti social behaviour (ASB) and crime issues that matter in this area’ and the same question is asked in both the nationally and locally commissioned surveys. In Dorset, respondents to the nationally commissioned British Crime Survey (BCS) and our locally commissioned Community Safety Survey both indicate that around 50% of people in Dorset agree with this statement.  

The most recent Community Safety Survey took place in October and November 2009 providing the following breakdown of views across the area:

• 46% of respondents from Bournemouth agreed
• 51% of respondents from Poole agreed
• 53% of respondents from West Dorset and Weymouth & Portland agreed
• 52% of respondents from East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck and Christchurch agreed   

The survey is based on a random survey of people in the local area. The use of a random sample aims to ensure the results are statistically representative of the local population. Compared to other estimates of how the population is made up, the sample for this survey may under represent some groups.

Future local Community Surveys will be undertaken quarterly and the results will be updated onto the National Crimemapper website as well as the Dorset Police and Dorset Police Authority websites.

Where to find more information

• You can view the published information on the National Crimemapper Website from Monday 1 March 2010 by following this link >
• To view our Frequently Asked Questions about these results please follow this link >
• If you want to access more information about how the Dorset Community Safety Survey is organised please follow this link >

Examples of local Partnership Initiatives

A few examples of initiatives which require a partnership approach by police and local councils are:

• Licensing – working together and with pubs and clubs to ensure a safe night-time economy for our towns;
• All anti-social behaviour – most of our local councils employ anti-social behaviour reduction officers or project workers to tackle this wide range of problems hand-in-hand with the police;
• ASBOs (anti-social behaviour orders): these require input from both organisations;
• Drugs operations: the police lead on the enforcement but our council partners have a big hand in co-ordinating any community regeneration following the removal of drug dealers;
• Youth outreach – projects like MAYO (Multi-Agency Youth Outreach) in Christchurch and Purbeck and SafeBus in Bournemouth sees Safer Neighbourhood Officers and Council Outreach workers tackling young people’s issues;
• Safe Schools and Communities – again working on issues that affect young people, including restorative justice, Blitz (alcohol and drugs); cyber-safety; and anti-social behaviour;
• Community projects like clean-ups, graffiti removal; litter picks;
• Trading standards operations to tackle problems like under-age drinkers; bogus callers or to disrupt the stolen goods market;
• Joint patrols by Safer Neighbourhood Officers and council wardens to tackle localised issues like dog fouling and parking;
• Dispersal orders to split up groups of troublemakers and move them on require signatures from both a senior police officer and a council chief.
• Speeding concerns – council highways departments and police carry out speed checks in areas where concerns are raised and solutions are managed across both agencies to include enforcement, improved signage and traffic calming measures.
• Parking – council and police patrols are carried out to ascertain the nature of the problem and to enforce parking restrictions. Where the problem is particularly prevalent, both agencies work to provide solutions such as parking permits and walking buses.

What is happening in your neighbourhood?

In your neighbourhood, you will find countless examples such as these of where Dorset Police and its council partners have got together to improve the quality of life where you live. They may do this, along with other CDRP (Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership*) members, under the banner of your local Safer Neighbourhood Team; through PACT (Partners and Communities Together); through Bournemouth 2026; or through Safer Poole.

Whatever the name given to partnership working where you live, there is one vital ingredient to making sure it is effective – you, Dorset’s residents.

Through Safer Neighbourhoods, PACT, Bournemouth 2026 or Safer Poole, the police and local councils are working to engage you, in our communities, to tell us what your community safety priorities are and then work together and with you to address them. To find out how the police and local councils are working together in your area to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, please visit the Dorset Police website, enter your postcode on the right hand side of this page, click ‘enter’ and you will be taken to your Safer Neighbourhood Team page, where you will find details of the current priority in your area. Within the page you’ll find a link to a newsletter with the latest news from partners in your neighbourhood.

On those pages you will also find out how you can get involved – through opportunities like public meetings, postcards, surgeries, street corner meetings.

Police and local councils working together – what do you think?

Complete the quick straw poll available on the Dorset Police website by following this link >