Community Confidence Survey

Community Confidence Survey

Between 1st February to 15th March 2023 a survey was conducted to gather the views of those aged 16 and over on Levenmouth and confidence in policing. Questions were made available online via SPA Citizen Space page and on paper via community organisations with a freepost envelope to the SPA office for returns. There was also the option to request another format if required. In total there were 100 responses to the survey.

This was analysed alongside results for the Police Scotland Your Police Survey. There were 102 responses for Levenmouth in 2022/23 (51 responses for Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages and 51 responses for Leven, Kennoway and Largo).

The findings were published in April 2023 and key findings included:
• Levenmouth community cohesion is not particularly strong. Just over one-third of respondents agreed that Levenmouth has a strong sense of community and over a quarter of respondents to the Levenmouth survey disagreed.
• Your Police Survey insights show that 61% of survey respondents from Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages (n=31) and 57% of survey respondents from Leven, Kennoway and Largo (n-29) stated they felt fairly safe in 2022/23.
• However, when asked to comment on views of Levenmouth, responses were largely negative and related to the poor condition of their local areas, the high levels of poverty and inequality, youth anti-social behaviour, and drug 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 most indicators.
• Your Police Survey data also indicates that 56% of respondents from Leven, Kennoway and Largo and 41% of respondents from Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages ‘disagree/strongly disagree’ that they have
confidence in local policing in 2022/23.
• Respondents in Levenmouth had generally positive feelings in relation to trust and local policing, with a higher proportion scoring ‘High’ in three out of four indicators.
• Regarding performance, ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ and ‘A somewhat poor/very poor job’ were each the most common responses in two scenarios. These responses were equally common in ‘Keeping your area safe’.
• 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 and tackling crime appear to be where respondents’ confidence issues lie.

Community Confidence Under 16s Survey

After permission was received from Fife Council, between 20th February and 15th March 2023 a survey was run across local primary schools in Levenmouth and Levenmouth Academy secondary school to gain views on policing from those under the age of 16. Questions were also developed for children from Primary 1 to Primary 3 with completion facilitated by teachers. It was at the discretion of schools on how these questions were made available to pupils and in total there were 207 responses.

The findings of these questions were published in.

Key findings included:
• The majority of pupils in Levenmouth had a positive view of the police.
• The main areas of importance to respondents were a greater level of police engagement with local schools, tackling anti-social behaviour, drugs in school, and vandalism.

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 Levenmouth population.