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Policing Advance Access originally published online on April 21, 2009
Policing 2009 3(2):139-148; doi:10.1093/police/pap005
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© The Authors 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CSF Associates: Publius, Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Using Research to Inform Policy: The Role of Public Attitude Surveys in Understanding Public Confidence and Police Contact

Ben Bradford*, Elizabeth A. Stanko** and Jonathan Jackson***

* Ben Bradford, Methodology Institute, London School of Economics, London, UK. E-mail: b.bradford{at}lse.ac.uk
** Elizabeth A. Stanko, Head, Strategic Research and Analysis Unit, Metropolitan Police Service, London, UK.
*** Jonathan Jackson, Methodology Institute and Mannheim Centre for Criminology, London School of Economics, London, UK.

This article summarizes evidence on contact and confidence from the British Crime Survey and surveys conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service. First, falls in public confidence over the last 20 years have been mirrored by growing dissatisfaction with personal contact. Second, while poorly handled encounters with the police can have a significant negative impact on subsequent confidence, there is some recent evidence that well-handled contacts can have a small but positive impact. More promisingly, high visibility and feeling informed about police activities are both associated with greater confidence in policing. Finally, we discuss how the Metropolitan Police Service is using survey data to improve police handling of interactions with the public. Communication between officers and the public—of information, of fairness and respect, and of police presence—appears to be of central importance.


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