Performance

Regarding the performance of police in their local area, ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ had the highest proportion of respondents selected across three scenarios:

• Policing in general (44%, n=19)
• Tackling crime (37%, n=16)
• Keeping your area safe (40%, n=17)

However ‘A very poor/somewhat poor job’ had the highest proportion of respondents selected in two scenarios:

• Tackling crime (37%, n=16)
• Tackling anti-social behaviour (44%, n=19)

‘A neither good nor poor job’ had the highest proportion of respondents in the ‘Bringing the community closer together’ scenario (37%, n=16). In comparison, in Feb-Mar 2023, a higher proportion of respondents selected ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ for ‘Policing in general’ and ‘Tackling crime’, ‘A very poor/somewhat poor job’ for ‘Tackling anti-social behaviour’ and ‘Bringing the community closer together’, and ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ and ‘a somewhat poor/very poor job’ for the ‘Keeping your area safe’ scenario.

However, as with the confidence and trust questions, respondents who were aware of initiatives were more likely to view policing performance more positively than those who were unaware. A higher proportion of respondents who were aware of one or more initiatives felt police in their local area were doing a ‘very good/somewhat good job’ across four indicators – ‘Bringing the community closer together’ received a higher proportion of ‘A neither good nor poor job’ responses.

Comparatively,  the majority of those who were unaware of initiatives felt that police were doing a ‘somewhat poor/very poor job’ across all indicators. Again, while it is not possible to tell if these factors are linked due to small sample sizes, it does suggest that awareness of initiatives could be linked to increased positivity in the performance of local policing.

Ward 21: Leven, Kennoway and Windygates, Lundin Links and Largos

In Ward 21, a higher proportion of respondents scored ‘A very poor/somewhat poor job’ for four of the scenarios:

• Tackling crime (47%, n=9)
• Keeping your area safe (42%, n=8)
• Tackling anti-social behaviour (47%, n=9)
• Bringing the community closer together (42%, n=8)

However, the ‘Policing in general’ scenario scored ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ (39%, n=7).

Ward 22: Buckhaven, Methil, Methilhill, Wemyss Villages

In Ward 22, a higher proportion of respondents scored ‘A very good/somewhat good job’ for three of the scenarios:

• Policing in general (55%, n=12)
• Tackling crime (41%, n=9)
• Keeping your area safe (45%, n=10)

However, a higher proportion of respondents for the ‘Tackling anti-social behaviour’ scenario scored ‘A very poor/somewhat poor job’ (41%, n=9), and a higher proportion of respondents for the ‘Bringing the community closer together’ scenario scored ‘A neither good nor poor job’ (36%, n=8).