Citizens' Panel - Making the borough safer

The Panel survey on making the borough safer focussed on gaining a better understanding of what would make Panel members feel safe and gain an insight into Panel members’ experiences of crime and antisocial behaviour as a witness and/or victim. This survey is a repeat of a similar survey conducted in 2022 and benchmarks against the previous results to identify changes in opinions, attitudes, and experiences. 

1. Overall feelings of safety – In general, Panel members who responded felt less safe than they did in 2022. Eight in ten (80 per cent) Panel members feel safe when out and about in their neighbourhood during the day which is a four per cent decrease since 2022. Feelings of safety for Panel members after dark drops from those during the day (50 per cent consistent with 2022). There was a four per cent increase in the percentage of Panel members who felt there were places in their neighbourhood they were worried about visiting and a 17 per cent increase in those who had changed their behaviour in the last 12 months to feel safe. 
   
   Community safety priorities – Of the four community safety priorities identified in the Community Safety Plan, drug related offences were still viewed as the biggest problem (60 per cent) followed by antisocial behaviour (51 per cent). These views were mainly based on personal experience or word of mouth. This year, Panel members were also asked about other crime issues in their neighbourhood. Motor vehicle crime (65 per cent), theft from a person or shop (59 per cent) and burglary (57 per cent) were viewed as the biggest problems for Panel members.
   
   Community involvement – Ninety-three per cent of Panel members felt that it was important for residents and the police to work together, with a five per cent increase in those finding it very important since 2022. Forty-three per cent of Panel members agreed that ’community members trust local services and organisations’ - this has seen a five per cent decrease since 2022. Panel members continue to think that higher visibility of police/wardens (93 per cent) would have the biggest impact on crime and antisocial behaviour in their neighbourhood. This was followed by environmental improvements for local neighbourhoods (90 per cent) and enforcement against antisocial behaviour (89 per cent).
    
2. Experiences of crime and antisocial behaviour – The percentage of Panel members who have been a witness to or victim of crime or antisocial behaviour in the past 12 months remained fairly consistent with 2022, with 31 per cent stating they had been a witness and 15 per cent a victim, whilst five per cent had been both. Of those that had experienced crime or antisocial behaviour as a witness and/or victim, only 34 per cent had reported the incident (most often to the police followed by the Council). The main reason given for not reporting was they didn’t think it would be acted on (62 per cent). 
   
   Community Wardens and Parks’ Police Teams – Awareness of the Community Wardens continues to be quite low amongst Panel members with 72 per cent not aware of them. There was more awareness of the Parks’ Police with only 38 per cent of Panel respondents not having heard of them.

The Community Safety Team and the Safer K and C Partnership are continuing to carefully consider the full results from the Panel survey with the year-on-year results being used to identify any trends and to monitor progress against the action plans developed from the Community Safety Plan. This year the Safer K and C Partnership will be forming its response to Serious Violence as part of a new legal duty. These responses will help to inform the partnership’s response to violence in the borough alongside needs analysis and other ongoing community engagement work. The full report also identified any differences in opinion by key demographics (sex, age, and ethnicity) and by the area of the borough that Panel members live in. This feedback will be used to target resources, commissioning work, communication and awareness raising to ensure to maximise their effectiveness. The comparison to  last year’s results helps to understand changes in local feelings of safety and the results will also enable the Community Safety Team to identify where within the borough to focus additional safety measures and environmental improvements, whilst also informing the Council’s antisocial behaviour response borough wide.