Three different Surveys explained

At least three organisations invite residents of Chiltern and South Buckinghamshire to participate in periodic or rolling surveys relating to crime and community safety. Residents are entitled to ask “why?”

Below we analyse the key features of the surveys held by Buckinghamshire Council every autumn, by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner on a rolling basis, and the Forum’s thrice-yearly surveys.

All these surveys serve a distinct purpose, all informing the provision of services and contributing to making our areas safer places to live. We encourage residents to give their inputs to all three.

Buckinghamshire Council’s annual Community Safety survey

By law (The Crime and Disorder Act 1998), the Police and local authorities must work together with partner organisations to form a Community Safety Partnership and develop a strategy to reduce crime within the local area. Buckinghamshire Council’s annual survey informs that strategy which is reset every three years.

TVP Police and Crime Commissioner’s rolling Survey

The work of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is also governed by law, in this case the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. Among other things, this directs that PCCs must secure efficient and effective police for their area, publish a police and crime plan to set objectives for their area, and set the force budget and determine the precept. Over the past 10 years, Buckinghamshire residents have seen an ever greater share of the policing budget come from their Council Tax. It is therefore even more important that the views of residents are taken into account, and their votes contribute to strategic and sometimes more specific initiatives.

Link to TVP Police and Crime Commissioner’s rolling survey

Chiltern & South Bucks Policing Issues Forum’s Surveys

Feedback from the Forum’s surveys is perhaps less strategic. It is turned around quickly and assists prioritisation of resources at a Neighbourhood level. It also informs discussion at the Forum meetings, enabling the public and the Police to engage meaningfully on local issues and priorities.

In this, the Forum also helps Thames Valley Police to meet a statutory obligation under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. This directs that a chief officer of Police must:

• make arrangements for obtaining the views of persons within each neighbourhood about crime and disorder in that neighbourhood;
• make arrangements for providing persons within each neighbourhood with information about policing in that neighbourhood;
• and arrangements must be made for regular meetings between persons within the neighbourhood and police officers with responsibility for supervising or carrying out policing in that neighbourhood.

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