Policing priorities in London: do borough characteristics make a difference?
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Date
02/07/2009Author
Norris, Paul Andrew
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Abstract
Much current discourse around policing in the UK stresses the need for a
partnership between the police and public and, in particular, the need for the
police to be responsive to the concerns of local communities. It is argued that
appearing responsive to local needs, and showing a willingness to consult the
public in the process of decision making, is likely to increase support for the
police. Despite this, detailed analysis of the public’s preferences for policing
remains relatively sparse. This thesis uses data from the 2003-04 Metropolitan
Police’s Public Attitude Survey (PAS) to consider whether survey data can
provide a useful indication of a respondent’s preferences, and how these
preferences may vary depending on the characteristics of respondents and the
boroughs in which they live.
This thesis argues that rather than simply considering some overall measure of
the level of policing individuals would like to see, or investigating attitudes
towards different functions of the police individually, a more interesting and
complete view of preferences for policing can be developed by looking at the
mix of policing that individuals best believe will meet their needs. Additionally,
it will be shown that differences in respondents’ preferences can be related to
both the characteristics of individuals and the nature of the boroughs in which
they live. It will be suggested that some of these relationships provide evidence
that respondents favour a mix of policing they believe will protect them from
perceived threats and reflect their perception of the police’s role within society.
In addition, this thesis provides an example of how the techniques of Factor
Analysis and Latent Class Analysis can provide greater insight into the data
collected in large scale surveys. It is suggested that responses provided to
different questions are often related and may represent a more general underlying
attitude held by the respondent. It is also argued that using techniques which can
handle multilevel data will provide greater explanatory depth by suggesting how
a respondent’s attitude may be influenced by the context in which they live.
The analysis presented offers new insights into the public’s priorities for policing
and demonstrates the worth of the statistical methods employed. However it is,
to some extent, limited by the form of the questions within the PAS dataset and
by the lack of information about the thought process underlying a respondent’s
answers. These concerns will be discussed, along with suggestions for future
research.