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 Letham along with Your Police Survey data for 2021-22 and 2022-23.
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Executive Summary
This paper discusses the headline findings of a survey conducted in Letham as part of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland Community Confidence Action Research Project, along with results of the Your Police Survey for the Letham area covering years 2021/22 and 2022/23.
The Community Confidence Survey ran from 20th September to 15th November 2022 with 57 responses. For the Your Police Survey there were 32 responses in 2021/22 and 41 in 2022/23. 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 Letham population.
Key findings:
Letham community cohesion appears to be strong and people in the area report a sense of safety. Nearly half of the Community Confidence survey respondents strongly agreed or agreed that Letham had a sense of community, and Your Police Survey insights show that 71% of survey respondents (n=29) stated they felt safe in 2022/23.
However, when asked to comment on views of Letham, responses were largely negative and related mainly to antisocial behaviour, and drug and alcohol use.
High levels of confidence in policing were mostly associated with policing in general, and it is notable that the highest proportion of respondents scored ‘Low’ or ‘Medium’ in their level of confidence for all indicators. Your Police Survey data also indicates there has been an increase in those who are not confident from 19% (n=6) in 2021/22 to 41% (n=17) in 2022/23.
Respondents in Letham generally had more neutral feelings in relation to trust and local policing, with a higher proportion scoring ‘medium’ across all indicators.
Regarding performance, the highest proportion scored ‘a neither good nor poor job’ across all indicators. Comparatively, SPA national polling showed a higher proportion of respondent feeling negative about ‘tackling anti-
social behaviour’ and ‘bringing the community together’ and a positive response for ‘policing in general’, ‘keeping your area safe’ and ‘tackling crime’.
The majority of respondents noticed no changes in local policing in the last six months, nor had their opinion of policing changed.
The qualitative responses highlight that police presence and visibility appear to be where respondents’ confidence issues lie.
