Report Summary
This report outlines key findings from the joint SPA and Police Scotland survey conducted as part of the first phase of the Community Confidence Action Research Project work in Irvine Fullarton.
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Executive Summary
This paper discusses the headline findings of a survey conducted in Irvine Fullarton as part of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland Community Confidence Action Research Project.
The Community Confidence Survey ran from 6th February to 26th March 2023 with 50 responses received. It should be noted that due to small sample sizes and the non-representative nature of the samples the findings of these surveys cannot be generalised to the entire Irvine Fullarton population.
Key Findings
Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Irvine Fullarton had a sense of community, describing the residents as friendly and down-to-earth making the area a nice place to live. However, some responses recognised how the impacts of deprivation effected the community.
Regarding confidence in policing, the highest proportion of respondents expressed low levels of confidence in police for ‘Tackling antisocial behaviour’. (54%, n=27). The most of respondents scored ‘Medium’ for their level of confidence in the majority of other indicators.
In relation to trust in policing, a ‘High’ degree of trust was observed across two indicators ‘To care about people like you’ (46%, n=23), and in general (42%, n=21).
Focusing on police performance, the highest proportion of respondents thought that ‘In general’ the police are doing ‘A very good’ or ‘somewhat good job’ (42%, n=21). However, people thought the police were doing ‘A somewhat poor’ or ‘Very poor job’ in relation to ‘Tackling anti-social behaviour’ (46%, n=23). These results are similar to SPA national polling conducted in Jan/Feb 2023.
The vast majority of respondents had not noticed any change in local policing engagement in the last 6 months (88%, n=44); nor had their view on local policing changed in the same timeframe (84%, n=42).
Many responses reflected that they feel there is a lack of visible policing within the area which is said to influence perceptions of policing. Some respondents noted that inaction in relation to anti-social behaviour had also impacted their opinions on policing.
