Case Study: Crime and Communities Review

Aims and Objectives

As part of the Government's drive to foster engagement between local communities and the police, and more generally, to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system, the Cabinet Office and COI, led by Louise Casey, carried out a review examining these issues. 

Ipsos MORI were commissioned to carry out a series of discussion groups.  We were interested in four key research questions:

• What are the most effective ways in which the police can engage with local people?
• What kind of information do the public want about crime, and how do they want to receive it?
• What do the public feel their own role is in preventing and tackling crime?
• How much do the public know about 'neighbourhood policing', and what do they want from it?
• What form should community punishments (e.g. unpaid work) take?

In addition, the Cabinet Office were interested in awareness of and attitudes towards Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).  We carried out a quantitative survey to understand public opinion on this issue.

Delivering the research

We held eight discussion groups with the general public across England and Wales in March 2008.  Participants were carefully recruited from a mix of inner city and suburban locations, deprived and more affluent areas, and comprised a mix of ages and ethnic groups to reflect the general population.

To provide context to the discussions, in the week leading up to the groups each participant completed a 'pre-task diary', in which they noted down their thoughts and experiences about crime, anti-social behaviour, and policing in their local area.

We also placed eight questions on our weekly face-to-face omnibus survey to assess awareness of and attitudes towards PCSOs.

The research fed directly into Louise Casey's Cabinet Office review paper 'Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime', and into the subsequent Policing Green Paper 'From the Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our Communities Together'.

Some of the key findings from the research were that:

• Local people should be provided with information about what action is being taken to tackle crime, as well as contact information for local police teams.
• The police should provide guidance to local communities outlining the ways in which they can help to tackle crime.
• Available powers for PCSOs should be increased.
• 'Unpaid work' should be renamed 'Community Payback'.
• 'Community Payback' should be visible and demanding, and local people should have a say in what work is conducted.