Confidence in the local police

Published 10 October 2017

Last updated 23 February 2018 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2015/16, 78% of people aged 16 and over in England and Wales had confidence in their local police, compared with 76% in 2013/14

• in every one of the last 3 years, Black Caribbean people had less confidence in the police compared to White British people

• among the broad ethnic groups, Black people and those with Mixed ethnicity had less confidence in the local police than White people

• Asian people had the highest levels of confidence in the local police in each of the last 3 years (jointly with White people in 2015/16)

Things you need to know

These figures are based on the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

The CSEW is a face-to-face survey in which people aged 16 or over living in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a selected range of criminal offences in the previous 12 months.

The CSEW is able to capture a broad range of victim-based crimes experienced by those interviewed, not just those that have been reported to (and recorded by) the police. However, some offences such as homicide and sexual offences are not included in its main estimates.

Since October 2015, the survey has included fraud and computer misuse. However, as data from before this point is not available, the statistics and commentary presented here exclude fraud and computer misuse offences.

Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty. This is because they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.

Estimates based on fewer than 50 responses are excluded, as they are considered less reliable.

To increase the reliability of the data when broken down by gender, age group and socio-economic group, the ONS combines data for each year into a 3-year average.

These statistics are estimates based on the sample of people who took part in the survey, and may not reflect the whole population. You should therefore use caution when interpreting them.

The CSEW does not include:

• people living in communal establishments (such as care homes, student halls of residence and prisons):
• crimes against commercial or public sector bodies

What the data measures

This data measures the percentage of the population who said they had overall confidence in the local police. The data is based on responses to the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW).

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 6 statements relating to their perceptions of the local police:

• the police can be relied upon when needed
• the police would treat you with respect
• the police would treat you fairly
• the police understand local concerns
• the police deal with local concerns
• taking everything into account I have confidence in the police

Those who said they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement ‘Taking everything into account I have confidence in the police in this area’ were judged to have overall confidence in the police.

Survey respondents included both victims and non-victims of crime.

The ethnic categories used in this data

Where possible, this data is broken down by the 18 ethnic categories listed in the 2011 Census. There's a separate category for respondents whose ethnicity wasn't known.

The 2011 Census categories are as follows:

White:

• English/ Welsh/ Scottish/ Northern Irish/ British
• Irish
• Gypsy, Traveller or Irish Traveller
• Any other White background

Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups:

• White and Black Caribbean
• White and Black African
• White and Asian
• Any other Mixed/ Multiple ethnic background

Asian/Asian British:

• Indian
• Pakistani
• Bangladeshi
• Chinese
• Any other Asian background

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British:

• African
• Caribbean
• Any other Black/African/Caribbean background

Other ethnic group:

• Arab
• Any other ethnic group

To analyse the data by gender, age group and socio-economic group, the Office for National Statistics uses the following 5 broad ethnic categories:

• Asian / Asian British
• Black / African / Caribbean / Black British
• Mixed / Multiple ethnic groups
• White
• Other ethnic group

2. Confidence in the local police by ethnicity over time

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2013/14 to 2015/16
• Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2016

Percentage and number of people who had confidence in the police by ethnicity over time

	2013/14		2014/15		2015/16
Ethnicity	2013/14 %	2013/14 Number	2014/15 %	2014/15 Number	2015/16 %	2015/16 Number
All	76	35,075	76	33,015	78	34,922
Asian	79	1,805	78	1,626	79	1,770
Bangladeshi	71	137	82	122	77	133
Chinese	77	168	77	134	80	171
Indian	83	759	81	665	81	712
Pakistani	72	397	71	385	75	425
Asian other	82	344	81	320	84	329
Black	70	946	71	894	73	882
Black African	75	555	77	523	79	518
Black Caribbean	62	346	60	314	62	303
Black other		45	65	57	62	61
Mixed	72	336	64	304	72	359
Mixed White/Asian	75	80	73	87	76	93
Mixed White/Black African		46		44		44
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	69	118	68	98	66	132
Mixed other	74	92	59	75	72	90
White	76	31,725	76	29,917	79	31,627
White British	75	29,836	75	28,209	78	29,685
White Irish	81	319	80	295	80	286
White Gypsy/Traveller		12		10		15
White other	81	1,558	81	1,403	85	1,641
Other	77	232	77	231	81	241
Arab	79	88	82	82	80	86
Any other	76	144	73	149	81	155

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Confidence in the local police Confidence in the local police by ethnicity over time Summary

This data shows that:

• in each of the 3 years studied, Black people had less confidence in the local police than White people

• overall, 78% of people had confidence in the local police in 2015/16, compared with 76% in 2013/14

• among specific ethnic groups, Black Caribbean people had less confidence in the local police compared with White British people in each of the 3 years studied – sample sizes were too small to draw firm conclusions for other ethnic groups

3. Confidence in the local police by ethnicity and gender

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (3 years combined)
• Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2016

Percentage and number of people who had confidence in the local police by ethnicity and gender

	All		Female		Male
Ethnicity	All %	All Number	Female %	Female Number	Male %	Male Number
Asian	79	5,201	79	2,615	79	2,586
Black	71	2,722	73	1,579	69	1,143
Mixed	69	999	68	587	71	412
White	77	93,269	78	50,972	76	42,297
Other	78	704	78	336	78	368

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Confidence in the local police Confidence in the local police by ethnicity and gender Summary

This data shows that:

• women from the Black and White ethnic groups had more confidence in the local police than men from the same ethnic group

• although the data shows a difference between men and women from the Mixed ethnic group, sample sizes for this group are small so any generalisations based on this result are very unreliable

4. Confidence in the local police by ethnicity and age

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2013/14 to 2015/16 (3 years combined)
• Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2016

Percentage and number of adults who had confidence in the local police by ethnicity and age

	Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other
Age group	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number
16-24	76	567	63	282	70	204	75	6,515	73	89
25-34	77	1,354	69	534	71	254	76	12,583	82	176
35-44	80	1,450	78	713	63	223	76	14,087	81	193
45-54	77	797	67	610	64	158	75	16,020	74	112
55-64	83	540	78	282	74	71	75	15,576	72	63
65-74	84	351	80	162	81	61	78	15,692		43
75+	87	142	84	139		28	84	12,796		28

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Confidence in the local police Confidence in the local police by ethnicity and age Summary

When the figures for the last 3 years are combined:

• around three-quarters of adults in the youngest age group (16 to 24) had confidence in the local police – this was the lowest proportion found in any age group

• adults aged 75 and over were most likely to have confidence in the local police

• Black people aged 16 to 24 had the least confidence in the local police and Asian people aged 75 and over had the most confidence in the local police

• within the Mixed ethnic group, people aged 35 to 44 had the least confidence, a clear difference from White adults in this age range

5. Confidence in the police by ethnicity and socio-economic group

• Location: England and Wales
• Time period: 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 (3 years combined)
• Source: Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2016

Percentage and number of people who had confidence in the local police by ethnicity and socio-economic group

	Asian		Black		Mixed		White		Other
Socio-economic group	Asian %	Asian Number	Black %	Black Number	Mixed %	Mixed Number	White %	White Number	Other %	Other Number
Managerial and professional occupations	78	1,639	69	794	65	335	80	32,012	77	194
Intermediate occupations	76	1,070	69	467	74	198	77	22,083	75	123
Routine and manual occupations	79	1,454	76	985	64	307	74	33,433	81	177
Never worked and long-term unemployed	85	578	73	231	75	55	69	2,801	82	104
Full-time students	79	420	65	223	80	99	80	2,448	77	105
Not classified		40		22		5	73	492		1

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of Confidence in the local police Confidence in the police by ethnicity and socio-economic group Summary

This data shows that:

• Black full-time students had less confidence in the local police than White full-time students – confidence levels were similar among full-time students from the Asian, Mixed and Other ethnic groups

• within routine and manual occupations, White people had more confidence in the local police than people with Mixed ethnicity, but less confidence than people from the Other ethnic background

• within intermediate occupations (for example, clerical, sales, service occupations), White people had more confidence in the local police than Black people

• within managerial and professional occupations, White people had more confidence in the local police than Black people and people with Mixed ethnicity

• among the long-term unemployed, White people had the lowest levels of confidence of any ethnic group

6. Methodology

CSEW estimates are based on analysis of structured face-to-face interviews carried out using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). In 2015/16, the response rate was 72%.

The CSEW is a household sample survey and, as such, estimates are based on a representative sample of the population of England and Wales aged 16 and over. A sample, as used in the CSEW, is a small-scale representation of the population from which it is drawn.

Weighting:

Weighting is used to adjust the results of a survey to make them representative of the population and improve their accuracy.

For example, a survey which contains 25% women and 75% men will not accurately reflect the views of the general population, which we know has an even 50/50 split.

Statisticians rebalance or ‘weight’ the survey results to more accurately represent the general population. This helps to make them more reliable.

Survey weights are usually applied to make sure the survey sample has broadly the same gender, age, ethnic and geographic make up as the general population.

The CSEW collects information from approximately 35,000 households each year. Since those responses reflect only a fraction of the total population of England and Wales, a process is used to give different weights to different households and individuals based on their sex, age and region, in such a way that the weighted distribution of responding household and individuals in these households matches the known distribution in the population as a whole.

First, weights are applied to the raw data to compensate for:

• unequal address selection probabilities (given, some areas are more populated than others)
• the observed variation in response rates between different types of neighbourhood
• situations in which only one dwelling unit can be selected in multiple ‘dwelling unit' households
• different probabilities of a respondent being selected based on different sized households

Second, calibration weighting is used to make adjustments for known differentials in response rates between different regions and between different age by six sub-groups.

Socio-economic groups:

The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) categorises members of the adult public in the UK according to their occupational status.

The NS-SEC categories are:

• managerial and professional occupations
• intermediate occupations (clerical, sales, service)
• routine and manual occupations
• never worked and long-term unemployed
• full-time students
• not classified

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales have National Statistics status.

National Statistics are a subset of official statistics which have been certified by the UK Statistics Authority as compliant with its Code of Practice for Official Statistics, including requirements on disclosure control. Estimates based on a number of respondents (known as the 'unweighted base') that is less than 50 are suppressed as these estimates are deemed to be less reliable.

Rounding

Estimates in the charts and tables are given to the nearest whole number.

You can see more detailed estimates (rounded to 1 decimal place) if you download the data.

Further technical information

Since the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is based on a sample of the population, estimates have a margin of quantifiable and non-quantifiable error associated with them.

Non-quantifiable error includes:

• when respondents have recalled crimes in the reference period that actually occurred outside that period
• crimes that did occur in the reference period that were not mentioned at all (either because respondents failed to recall a fairly trivial incident or, conversely, because they did not want to disclose an incident, such as a domestic assault)
• respondents saying they reported crimes to police when they did not (a “socially desirable” response)
• some incidents reported during the interview being miscoded (‘interviewer or coder error’)

7. Data sources

Source

Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2016

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) is a face-to-face survey in which people living in households in England and Wales are asked about their experiences of a selected range of criminal offences in the 12 months prior to the interview.

The CSEW is able to capture a broad range of victim-based crimes experienced by those interviewed, not just those that have been reported to, and recorded by, the police.

8. Download the data

Confidence in the police - Spreadsheet (csv) 113 KB

This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, geography, gender, socio-economic status, value, denominator

Publication release date: 10 October 2017

Updated: 23 February 2018

full page history

1. 23 February 2018 Minor updates for style and accuracy
2. 11 October 2017 Technical change: Updated url to match page title.
3. 10 October 2017 First published

From: Office for National Statistics

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