Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This data collection consists of the telephone survey responses from all three waves of the National Reassurance Policing Programme (NRPP) evaluation. The NRPP preceded the national roll-out of neighbourhood policing and sought to improve public confidence in policing. It involved local communities in identifying priority crime and disorder issues in their neighbourhood which they then tackled together with the police and other public services and partners. The NRPP ran trials of reassurance policing in 16 ward level sites, in eight forces in England, beginning in October 2003. The programme was evaluated at the end of the first year of implementation. Overall, the programme was found to have a positive impact on crime and anti-social behaviour, public feelings of safety, and public confidence in the police. In the second year of the programme, four of the original NRPP sites were selected for continued evaluation to test whether the results achieved in the first year could be sustained in the longer term. The main evaluation of the NRPP's first year covered six sites each matched with a control. Outcomes were measured using police statistics and a telephone survey in each site, where the same respondents were interviewed at the outset of the programme and one year later. A sample of 300 respondents was selected randomly with a panel sample of 200 achieved in each site. The baseline survey was conducted between November 2003 and January 2004, and the follow-up survey between November 2004 and January 2005. The sustainability of programme effects in year two was assessed by a third wave of the survey carried out between November 2005 and January 2006. In each site, a panel sample of about 160 was achieved. It consisted of 'original respondents' interviewed in waves 1, 2 and 3 of the survey, and 'new respondents' interviewed in only waves 2 and 3. Wards included in the trial were: Wards: Failsworth West (Oldham), Tonge (Bolton), St. Mary's (Oldham), Ingol (Preston), Lostock Hall (South Ribble), Brunswick (Blackpool), New Parks (Leicester), Eyre's Monsell (Leicestershire), Town Centre (St. Helen's), West Park (St. Helen's), East Wickham/Falconwood and Welling (Bexley), Northumberland Heath (Bexley), St. Helier (Merton), Upper Edmonton (Enfield), Colville (Kensington and Chelsea), Ash Wharf (Guildford), Horley West (Reigate and Banstead), Walton North (Elmbridge), Burghfield (West Berkshire), Bisham and Cookham (Windsor and Maidenhead), Greenham (West Berkshire), and Aston (Birmingham).
Main Topics:
Topics covered included the public's perception of their neighbourhood; fear of crime; victimisation and contact with the police; neighbourhood policing.
A random sample of households was created for the pilot and control wards by using a combination of listed telephone numbers and Random Digit Dialling (RDD). The control wards corresponding to 6 of the pilot wards were selected by comparing a range of statistics with the pilot wards: population density, ethnic profile and proportion of ward population classified as managers (those aged 16-74 and classified as National Statistics Socio Economic Classifications 1.1 – Large employers and managerial occupations; 1.2 – higher professional occupations and 2 – lower managerial and professional occupations).
Telephone interview
