Report Summary
This report summarises the work of the SPA and Police Scotland's Community Confidence Action Research Project in Wick.
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3. Community Conversations
On 12th July 2023 the SPA and Police Scotland held an engagement session with community groups and members of the public in Wick.
The day focused on the findings of the Community Confidence Survey and aimed to gain insights on how people felt policing in Wick could be enhanced via table/room discussions of the following questions:
Do you recognise Wick in these findings and in what ways?
Is there anything you feel is missing or would want to add?
What do you think could enhance confidence in policing in Wick?
There were approximately 10 attendees over the day including council officers, locally elected members, community group leaders and members of the public.
This was followed up with direct engagement with community groups in the area and their members asking what they felt impacted confidence in policing and how they felt it could be enhanced.
The key themes for policing that emerged from these conversations were:
Communication and Presence e.g. more localised social media, paper and digital newsletters, police attendance at community events/festivals, drop in sessions, physically pop-up stalls/marquees etc.
Accessibility and Contact e.g. greater visibility of police in the community, proactively engaging with people, improved reliability of opening hours for the front counter enquiry desk at Wick police station.
Improved resourcing e.g. doing more to recruit and retain local people to join the police to strengthen relationships between the local police and the local community and maintain continuity.
Those who provided feedback generally found the event valuable and it was great to see police and partners taking on board community feedback to enhance service delivery.
On 30 August 2023 the SPA and Police Scotland held three one-hour sessions across the day to feedback on the initiatives developed in response to the engagement with the community. In total there was about 15 attendees and those who attended were supportive about the ‘Tests of Change’ that had been proposed.
