Leicestershire Police Authority has a good understanding of what drives public confidence in the police. This enables it to develop local policing priorities and assign suitable resources. It has made policing more visible, responsive and accessible to the public. As a result public confidence in policing is improving in Leicestershire.
The Police Authority's goals were to ensure better access to policing and to focus more attention on delivering local policing priorities. This included improving the public's experience of contact with the police; and higher satisfaction and confidence in the police.
To achieve it goals the Police Authority set out a thorough and publicly supported case for a significant rise in the policing precept. The increase would allow it to improve both neighbourhood policing and its ability to fight serious crime and terrorism. It set clear local policing priorities and robustly monitored these to ensure improved performance.
In December 2008 the chair of the Police Authority asked the Chief Constable to take a proactive approach to realising the policing pledge target. The Policy Authority then used full meetings to hold the Chief Constable to account for the delivery of the policing pledge.
The Police Authority outlined how it could contribute to the policing pledge and how it would measure the affect through its performance scrutiny arrangements. Police Authority representatives at the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Local Strategic Partnerships use their membership to promote the delivery of the policing pledge.
To promote the understanding and delivery of the policing pledge the Policy Authority undertook a road show with local authorities and partners. It has also introduced new ways of engaging with local people such as use of text messaging to contact the police, using youth councils and a ‘voice your views’ website.
The Policy Authority invested in new monthly surveys called 'CRAVE' - confidence, reassurance, accessibility, and visibility evaluation. This robustly captures real-time satisfaction with neighbourhood policing and allows the force to tailor its response to the needs of local communities.
Investments in customer facing services are fully supported by the Police Authority. These include longer opening hours for police stations and piloting community resolutions and mobile data handsets for officers.
The HMIC's policing pledge inspection highlighted improvements across many measures of public satisfaction and confidence. These include:
- a 6.4 per cent improvement in understanding neighbourhood issues
- a 7 per cent improvement in people feeling the police are doing an excellent or good job
- a 7.7 per cent improvement in the public’s satisfaction with the handling of anti-social behaviour. This is a key concern to the public in Leicestershire.
The Police Authority has achieved its desired outcomes while preserving a good performing force and delivering cost efficiencies above target. Policing is more accessible and visible; and handling victims of crime has improved. The public recognise these achievements and this has led to an increase in satisfaction and confidence in policing.
These measures have helped the constabulary to be rated among the best five performing forces for the delivery of the policing pledge in 2009.