Report Summary
This report summarises the key findings of the evaluation of new policing initiatives in Wick as part of the final phase of the SPA and Police Scotland's Community Confidence Action Research Project in Wick.
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Introduction
This report summarises the findings of the evaluation in Wick as part of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland Community Confidence Action Research Project.
Using a range of data (such as Scottish Government statistics) Wick was identified as an area for this project. Since March 2023, we have conducted a survey gathering views on confidence in policing in Wick in Spring and held a number of events over 2023 to gather ideas on how confidence in policing could be enhanced in the local area. In Autumn 2023 local policing in Wick/Caithness implemented a range of initiatives based on this community feedback.
These new ways of working as part of the test of change are as follows:
• Coffee with a cop drop-ins
• Local policing newsletter
• Local recruitment campaign with commitment to base local applicants locally
• Local policing marquee based at local events
• Creation of a presentation to give an overview of modern policing.
To evaluate the initiatives a two-pronged approach has been taken:
• A survey conducted in December 2023 / January 2024 with those 16 and over mirroring one conducted in April-May 2023; and
• Conversations with community representatives. It should be noted that due to small sample sizes and the non-representative nature of the samples the findings of this survey cannot be generalised to the entire Wick/Caithness population and should be considered indicative only.
