Policing of Competing Interests

54% of respondents ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ that Police Scotland approached the policing of COP26 in a way that recognised the range of competing interests involved, increasing to 66% when don’t know/no view answers are removed. 

77% of respondents ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ that the policing of campaigners and protesters at major events like COP26 is a difficult challenge, increasing to 83% when those who answered don’t know/no view are removed.

Alt text Table 9:

Police Scotland approached the policing of COP26 in a way that recognised the range of competing interests involved - Strongly/Tend to agree 54%. Neither agree nor disagree 16%. Strongly/Tend to disagree 13%. Don’t know 17%.

Policing campaigners and protesters at events like COP26 is a difficult challenge for police forces - Strongly/Tend to agree 77%. Neither agree nor disagree 9%. Strongly/Tend to disagree 7%. Don’t know 7%.

The majority of respondents, regardless of gender, ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ that Police Scotland approached the policing of COP26 in a way that recognised the range of competing interests involved and that the policing of campaigners is a difficult challenge for police forces. Females were more likely to ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ than males to both statements.

When don’t know/no view answers are removed female agreement increased to 71% in relation to recognising competing interests and 85% in relation to recognising the difficulty of the challenge.  For males, this increased to 61% and 80% respectively.

Notably, agreement was substantially higher for recognising the difficulty than for balancing competing interests.

Alt text Table 10:

Police Scotland approached the policing of COP26 in a way that recognised the range of competing interests involved - Strongly/Tend to agree Male 52% Female 56%. Neither agree nor disagree Male 17% Female 15%. Strongly/Tend to disagree Male 17% Female 9%. Don’t know Male 14% Female 20%.

Policing campaigners and protesters at events like COP26 is a difficult challenge for police forces - Strongly/Tend to agree Male 75% Female 78%. Neither agree nor disagree Male 10% Female 8%. Strongly/Tend to disagree Male 9% Female 5%. Don’t know Male 6% Female 9%.

A higher proportion of respondents regardless of age ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ that Police Scotland approached the policing of COP26 in a way that recognised the range of competing interests involved and that policing campaigners at events like COP26 is a difficult challenge for police forces.

The likelihood of selecting ‘Strongly/Tend to agree’ increased as the age categories increased for both statements. There was a 31 percentage point difference between age groups 16-34 and 65+ on those who agreed the policing approach recognised the range of competing interests involved. When don’t know/no view answers are removed, support ranges from 49% of 16-34 year olds to 77% of over 65s.

There was also a 17 percentage point difference between age groups 16-34 and 65+ on those who agreed policing campaigners and protesters is a difficult challenge for police forces at events like COP26. When don’t know/no view answers are removed, support ranges from 76% of 16-34 year olds to 90% of those over 55.