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Policing and the Public: Findings From the 2000 British Crime Survey

NCJ Number
189866
Author(s)
Lorraine Sims; Andy Myhill
Date Published
2001
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This statistical report presented findings from the 2000 British Crime Survey (BCS) on the assessment of police performance based on contact between the public and victims with the police.
Abstract
In the 2000 BCS, people were asked about their contacts with the police and their assessment of police performance. Victims of crimes the police came to know about were asked about the service they received from the police. Major findings highlighted in the report included: (1) 78 percent of people in the 2000 BCS said that their local police did a very or fairly good job with the levels of confidence in the police remaining unchanged throughout the 1990's and decreasing slightly since 1998; (2) minority ethnic groups had lower levels of confidence in their local police; (3) approximately 26 percent of respondents had been contacted by the police and 35 percent contacted the police themselves; (4) the proportion of respondents stopped by the police while in a car or motorcycle (12 percent) or while on foot (3 percent) remained relatively constant throughout the 1990's; (5) people who had contact with the police during the last year were less likely to say that their local police did a good job (75 percent) than those who had no contact (81 percent); (6) victims of crimes reported to the police were asked how satisfied they were with the police response, victims were satisfied in 57 percent of incidents, gradually falling since the 1994 BCS (67 percent); and (7) 20 percent of those interviewed could remember being really annoyed by an officer’s behavior during the previous 5 years and 2 percent of these filed a formal complaint. Tables, graphs, and references