Confidence in the local police

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1. Main facts and figures

  • in the year ending March 2019, 75% of people aged 16 and over in England and Wales said they had confidence in their local police
  • people from Black and Mixed backgrounds were less likely than White and Asian people to have confidence in their local police
  • in every year covered by this data, Black Caribbean people were less likely than White British people to have confidence in their local police
Things you need to know

These figures come from the annual Crime Survey for England and Wales. The survey asks people about their experiences of crime in the previous 12 months.

Surveys are completed in person and respondents have to be 16 and over.

The survey does not include:

  • people living in communal establishments (such as care homes, university accommodation and prisons)
  • crimes against commercial or public sector bodies

Reliability

All survey estimates are based on a sample of the population, rather than the whole population. This means there’s a degree of uncertainty which is greater when the number of respondents is small.

There are usually fewer respondents from ethnic minority groups due to the make-up of the general population. As a result, the level of uncertainty is higher for these groups.

The commentary for this data only includes reliable, or statistically significant findings.

Findings are reliable when we are confident they would be similar 19 times out of 20 if we repeated the same survey on other random people.

Differences are reliable if the range of values ('confidence intervals') for the 2 estimates being compared don't overlap.

Breakdowns by gender, age and socio-economic group

Reliable estimates broken down by gender, age and socio-economic group can't be made based on one year's data. This is because of low sample sizes.

Data for the 3 years to March 2017 has been combined to make sure estimates are reliable. The figures shown are averages for this 3-year period, which has not been updated with data for the years ending March 2018 and March 2019.

What the data measures

This data shows the percentage of people who said they had confidence in their local police.

People were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with 6 statements about the police in their area:

  • 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 in this area

This data counts people who agreed with the statement ‘Taking everything into account, I have confidence in the police in this area’.

Survey respondents included both people who had been a victim of crime and those who hadn't.

The ethnic categories used in this data

In the analysis By ethnicity over time, estimates are shown for the 18 ethnic groups listed in the 2011 Census.

In the other analyses, the number of people surveyed from some ethnic groups was too small to make reliable generalisations. So estimates are shown only for the following 5 aggregated groups:

  • Asian
  • Black
  • Mixed
  • White
  • Other

2. By ethnicity over time

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
April 2013 to March 2019
Source:
Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2019
Percentage of people aged 16 and over who had confidence in their local police, by ethnicity over time
2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19
Ethnicity 2013/14 % 2013/14 Sample size 2014/15 % 2014/15 Sample size 2015/16 % 2015/16 Sample size 2016/17 % 2016/17 Sample size 2017/18 % 2017/18 Sample size 2018/19 % 2018/19 Sample size
All 76 35,075 76 33,015 79 34,922 78 34,767 78 34,293 75 33,704
Asian 79 1,805 78 1,626 79 1,770 80 1,927 80 1,980 78 2,046
Bangladeshi 71 137 82 122 77 133 72 165 81 177 77 211
Chinese 77 168 78 134 81 171 79 180 78 163 87 177
Indian 83 759 81 665 81 712 81 757 82 783 79 776
Pakistani 72 397 72 385 75 425 76 492 76 491 73 505
Asian other 82 344 81 320 84 329 86 333 85 366 83 377
Black 71 946 71 894 73 882 71 999 76 943 70 913
Black African 75 555 77 523 79 518 76 611 77 567 76 576
Black Caribbean 62 346 60 314 62 303 60 311 71 315 56 277
Black other withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 45 65 57 63 61 69 77 82 61 61 60
Mixed 72 336 65 304 72 359 72 369 71 371 68 369
Mixed White/Asian 75 80 73 87 76 93 85 105 68 86 76 89
Mixed White/Black African withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 46 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 44 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 44 76 56 81 61 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 48
Mixed White/Black Caribbean 69 118 68 98 66 132 59 120 67 120 58 122
Mixed other 74 92 59 75 72 90 72 88 71 104 69 110
White 76 31,725 76 29,917 79 31,627 79 31,093 78 30,658 75 30,046
White British 76 29,836 76 28,209 78 29,685 78 28,831 78 28,420 75 27,718
White Irish 81 319 80 295 80 286 76 292 84 294 82 303
White Gypsy/Traveller withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 12 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 10 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 15 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 21 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 15 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 10
White other 81 1,558 82 1,403 85 1,641 83 1,949 83 1,929 81 2,015
Other 77 232 77 231 81 241 76 345 82 298 77 278
Arab 79 88 83 82 80 86 77 140 82 100 80 94
Any other 76 144 73 149 81 155 76 205 81 198 76 184

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

  • 75% of people had confidence in their local police in the year ending March 2019
  • Asian (79%) and White people (75%) were more likely to have confidence in their local police than Black people (70%) and those with Mixed ethnicity (68%)
  • in every year shown, a lower percentage of Black Caribbean people had confidence in their local police than White British people
  • other differences between ethnic groups are not reliable because of the smaller number of people surveyed

3. By ethnicity and gender

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
April 2014 to March 2017 (3 years combined)
Source:
Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2019
Percentage of people aged 16 and over who had confidence in their local police, by ethnicity and gender
All Men Women
Ethnicity All % All Sample size Men % Men Sample size Women % Women Sample size
Asian 79 5,323 78 2,635 80 2,688
Black 71 2,775 70 1,161 72 1,614
Mixed 70 1,032 71 434 68 598
White 78 92,637 77 42,237 79 50,400
Other 78 817 77 425 78 392

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and gender’ (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

  • in the 3 years to March 2017, a higher percentage of White women than White men had confidence in their local police (79% compared with 77%)
  • differences between men and women in other ethnic groups are not reliable because of the smaller number of people surveyed

4. By ethnicity and age

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
April 2014 to March 2017 (3 years combined)
Source:
Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2019
Percentage of people aged 16 and over who had confidence in their local police, by ethnicity and age group
Asian Black Mixed White Other
Age Asian % Asian Sample size Black % Black Sample size Mixed % Mixed Sample size White % White Sample size Other % Other Sample size
16-24 77 578 61 263 68 211 77 6,273 68 102
25-34 78 1,348 72 536 73 272 77 12,544 83 186
35-44 79 1,523 77 709 65 222 77 13,929 81 225
45-54 78 814 69 639 70 151 76 16,024 74 128
55-64 82 539 75 336 71 90 76 15,390 77 87
65-74 87 352 78 163 86 54 78 15,912 87 62
75+ 84 169 77 129 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 32 85 12,565 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 27
All 79 5,323 71 2,775 70 1,032 78 92,637 78 817

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age’ (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

  • in general, a higher percentage of older people had confidence in their local police than younger people in the 3 years to March 2017
  • among 16 to 24 year olds, a lower percentage of people with Black (61%) and Mixed backgrounds (68%) had confidence in their local police than White people (77%)
  • among 25 to 34 year olds, a lower percentage of Black people (72%) had confidence in their local police than White people (77%)
  • among 35 to 44 year olds, a lower percentage of people with Mixed ethnicity (65%) had confidence in their local police than White people (77%)
  • among 65 to 74 year olds, a higher percentage of Asian people (87%) had confidence in the local police than White people (78%)
  • other differences between age and ethnic groups are not reliable because of the smaller number of people surveyed

5. By ethnicity and socio-economic group

Location:
England and Wales
Time period:
April 2014 to March 2017 (3 years combined)
Source:
Crime Survey for England and Wales, year ending March 2019
Percentage of people aged 16 and over who had confidence in their local police, by ethnicity and socio-economic group
Asian Black Mixed White Other
Socio-economic classification Asian % Asian Sample size Black % Black Sample size Mixed % Mixed Sample size White % White Sample size Other % Other Sample size
All 79 5,323 71 2,775 70 1,032 78 92,637 78 817
Full time students 79 430 65 221 78 102 83 2,361 72 116
Intermediate occupations 78 1,069 70 484 72 211 78 21,928 74 147
Managerial and professional occupations 78 1,733 70 810 67 364 80 32,406 76 220
Never worked and long-term unemployed 82 594 76 208 69 52 71 2,810 82 106
Not classified 71 52 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 34 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 6 71 612 withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable 7
Routine and manual occupations 80 1,445 75 1,018 67 297 75 32,520 84 221

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

  • in the 3 years to March 2017, 65% of Black students had confidence in their local police, compared with 83% of White students
  • among people in routine and manual jobs, 84% of people from Other ethnic groups and 80% of Asian people had confidence in their local police, compared with 67% of people from Mixed backgrounds
  • among people in intermediate occupations (including clerical, sales and service jobs), 78% of White people and Asian people had confidence in their local police, compared with 70% of Black people
  • among people in managerial and professional jobs, 80% of White people had confidence in their local police, compared with 67% of people from Mixed backgrounds
  • among long-term unemployed people, 82% of those from Other and Asian backgrounds had confidence in their local police, compared with 71% of White people

6. Methodology

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) involves a structured interview. Interviews usually take place in respondents' homes.

The survey covers around 35,000 households every year. Respondents have to be 16 and over.

In the year ending March 2019, 70% of respondents completed the survey (compared with 73% the year before).

Weighting:

Weighting has been applied to the raw data to compensate for:

  • some addresses being more likely to be selected than others (given that some areas are more populated than others)
  • the difference in response rates between different types of neighbourhood
  • cases where only one residence can be selected in households with more than one
  • different probabilities of a respondent being selected based on different sized households
  • different response rates between different areas and age groups

Read more about how weighting is used to make samples more representative of the population.

Socio-economic groups:

The analysis By ethnicity and socio-economic group uses the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification. This categorises adults according to their occupational status.

Suppression rules and disclosure control

Estimates based on fewer than 50 respondents are not shown because they are not 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.

Quality and methodology information

Further technical information

The Crime Survey for England and Wales is based on a sample of the population. Because of this, estimates have quantifiable and non-quantifiable errors associated with them.

Non-quantifiable errors include:

  • respondents recalling crimes that occurred outside the reference period
  • respondents not mentioning a crime (because they didn't want do or they forgot to)
  • respondents saying they reported crimes to police when they didn't
  • the interviewer miscoding some responses

7. Data sources

Source

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Office for National Statistics

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The main aim of the Crime Survey for England and Wales is to:

  • measure people's experience of crime
  • give reliable estimates about changes over time

The survey doesn't include all crimes. It excludes 'victimless' crimes (like possession of drugs) and crimes that victims can't report (like murder).

The survey aims to give a clearer picture of the extent of crime than police statistics. It can do this by including crimes that are not reported to (or recorded by) the police.

It can also provide a better indicator of long-term trends because it isn't affected by changes in how crimes are reported or recorded.

8. Download the data

Confidence in the local police - Spreadsheet (csv) 140 KB

This file contains the following: Measure, Ethnicity, Time, Geography, Gender, Age, Socio-economic classification, Household income, Value, Sample size, Standard error, Lower CI, Upper CI

Publication release date: 4 March 2020

full page history
  1. Updated with the latest available data (for 2018/19).

From: Office for National Statistics

Previous editions:
  1. Edition published on 14 May 2019
  2. Edition published on 14 August 2018
  3. Edition published on 23 February 2018
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