Confidence in the local police

Published

Last updated 30 September 2020 - see all updates

There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.

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

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

This data shows the percentage of people aged 16 and over who said they had confidence in their local police.

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

Not included in the data

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

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

The ethnic groups used in the 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 for 5 aggregated groups:

  • Asian
  • Black
  • Mixed
  • White
  • Other

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.

In the analyses by ethnicity with gender, age and socio-economic group, data for the 3 years to March 2017 has been combined to make sure estimates are reliable. The figures have not been updated with data for the years ending March 2018 and March 2019. You can read more about combining multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.

Weighting has been applied to the raw data. Read more about how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole population.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed.

In the data file

See Download the data for:

  • estimates rounded to 1 decimal place
  • confidence intervals – read how we use [confidence intervals] to judge the reliability of survey estimates

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

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

Updated: 30 September 2020

full page history
  1. Moved all contextual information to ‘Things you need to know’ and its new subsections. Increased visibility by adding it to the table of contents. Removed any duplication and added links to content about understanding our data. Charts, tables and the data file have not been updated.
  2. 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
Contents

Share this page