2. Community Confidence Survey

A survey was designed to gather views on the community and policing in Wick. Hosted on the Scottish Police Authority’s Citizen Space the survey contained 15 questions and ran from 11th April to 23rd May 2023. Questions were made available online via social media channels 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 139 responses were received.

The findings were published in June 2023 and key findings included:

Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Wick had a sense of community. The impacts of deprivation, however, are felt in the town, and people completing the survey perceived that there was a rise in antisocial behaviour and drug use on the area.

Regarding confidence and trust in policing, the highest proportion of respondents expressed low levels of confidence and trust in the police in relation to a range of policing activities.

Focusing on police performance, the highest proportion of respondents thought that ‘In general’ the police are doing ‘A somewhat poor or very poor across various scenarios. The results were similar to SPA national polling conducted in Jan/Feb 2023 and July/August 2023.

The majority of respondents had not noticed any change in local policing engagement in the last 6 months, nor had their view on local policing changed in the same timeframe.

Many responses reflected that they feel there is a lack of visible policing within the area. They also noted that police could participate more in community events, and that local policing should serve in way that is more community embedded and responsive to the community’s unique needs.