The confidence that Londoners have in the police can be tracked for the first time at both a borough and neighbourhood level, through two new online tools launched today by the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh.
The tools allow the public to see how well their local police are performing compared to other similar areas and also which Londoners in terms of age and ethnicity have the least confidence in the police, in any given area of London.
The launch of the Confidence Dashboard and the Neighbourhood Confidence Comparator is part of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s pledge to increase transparency about policing in the capital, and show the progress the Metropolitan Police is making to improve their engagement with the people they serve. Challenged by the Mayor to increase confidence in the police by 20 per cent by 2016, these tools will enable local police leaders, the 32 boroughs, and local residents to see where confidence stands in each of the capital’s 108 policing neighbourhoods.
The Confidence Dashboard shows confidence at a borough level and between different social groups. It highlights an ‘east-west' confidence divide with those living in west London generally reporting a more favourable attitude toward the police. The boroughs with the highest confidence are Richmond (86 per cent), Kingston (80 per cent) and Westminster (80 per cent), while Newham (49 per cent), Barking and Dagenham (53 per cent) and Tower Hamlets (55 per cent) are the lowest ranking boroughs. However, the Dashboard also reveals that since March 2012, confidence in the police has improved across all groups, most markedly amongst BME respondents.
Boroughs in London are made up of a wide variety of neighbourhoods and simple borough comparisons do not give the full picture of local confidence levels. The Neighbourhood Confidence Comparator addresses this by grouping London’s 108 policing neighbourhoods into similar groups depending upon dozens of economic, demographic and social indicators. The tool then allows users to compare crime and confidence rates for those neighbourhoods which are similar regardless of where they are in the capital. This makes it easier to see clearly which neighbourhoods are alike and then which need to do more to boost confidence and also allows the police to learn from other similar areas that are doing better.
Lambeth Central neighbourhood is classed as ‘inner gentrification’, the same as Bow and Mile End in Tower Hamlets and Southwark’s North-East neighbourhood. However, they all display wide differences in the levels of confidence in the police, being 65 per cent, 58 per cent and 73 per cent respectively. It is hoped that police leaders from low confidence neighbourhoods can look to their peers in similar neighbourhoods that score higher on confidence, and borrow ideas for how to improve engagement locally.
The Neighbourhood Confidence Comparator is the first time in the UK that detailed information about places has been used to create a clickable map with confidence scores at a local level. Together the confidence tools highlight that although progress is being made with confidence rising among all groups in London from 63 to 68 per cent since March 2012, more work is needed if the Met Police are to hit their target of 75 per cent by 2016.
The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Stephen Greenhalgh said: “The Mayor and I have been clear - cutting crime is not enough, we need to see a boost in Londoners' confidence. We know that the police themselves can work to improve confidence by engaging with the public, communicating well and addressing local concerns. For the first time we are giving Londoners a clear picture of confidence in police in our capital, and we have challenged the Met to do better. We hope these tools will be used by the public to track progress, whilst allowing the police to make fair comparisons between similar neighbourhoods for the first time.”
Assistant Commissioner Helen King, the head of Territorial Policing. "We are determined to continue to increase the number of Londoners who have confidence and trust in the Met. Many professions would welcome a confidence level of 67%, but we know that the relationship between the public and the police is too important for us not to put greater effort into making improvements. We are recruiting more officers from London and they are working in Safer Neighbourhood Teams, preventing and investigating crime and tackling the problems that matter most to local people. We are providing more information about what we are doing and know that fair treatment plays an essential part in giving the public confidence in their local police."
To view the Confidence Dashboard visit /programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime/data-and-research/confidence/confidence-dashboard
To view the Neighbourhood Confidence Comparator visit /confidence-comparator
Notes to editors
· Percentage scores for confidence in the police are derived from a rolling yearly questionnaire of over 12,000 Londoners as part of the Public Attitudes Survey (PAS), based on those who said the police were doing a good or excellent job.
· The Neighbourhood Confidence Comparator was a joint project between MOPAC and GLA analysts who took over 90 separate social and economic indicators to create 12 types of neighbourhoods in London. Factors included levels of employment, housing, age, ethnicity, education, health, average income and whether areas have major transport hubs.
Confidence by neighbourhood – Top and Bottom 5
Confidence by borough:
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