As part of Cambridgeshire Constabulary's commitment to delivering a citizen-focused service, we are eager to gain a better understanding of what you value about our police service. In 2008 we commissioned mruk research to undertake a survey amongst the residents of Cambridgeshire. Over 3,000 people took part through face to face interviews, and online. This makes it the biggest survey we've ever carried out, and we would like to share the results with you.

It is really important that we fully understand the community's needs and expectations from the police service. The results will be used to shape and improve the service we provide - to make sure it truly reflects the needs of people in Cambridgeshire.

You told us:

• 'A professional attitude and the behaviour of the police' are at the top of your list of priorities.

Here's what we're doing:

We've launched our 'Putting People First' programme for officers and staff. It provides ongoing training, coaching and mentoring to all employees, to ensure we deliver the best possible service to the public. We've already seen a reduction in complaints as a result.

You told us:

• You want information about your local policing team and how to contact them.


• 80% of those who took part thought it was important to know a local officer or Police Community Support Officer. Only a quarter actually did.


• Two in five respondents wanted information on what the police are doing to tackle crime in their local area and receive updates from local officers on local issues.

Here's what we're doing:

As part of our Policing Pledge, we've introduced neighbourhood leaflets which we're handing out at events and which are also available from police station enquiry offices.

You can also find out who's in your team, how you can contact them, and what action we've taken against your local policing priorities, by visiting the My Neighbourhood pages of our website. W e also publish information about what your local team is doing as part of our annual local policing summaries. We send these to every household in Cambridgeshire.

We're also re-developing our very successful e-cops service so that it's even easier to get up to date information about what's happening in your area.

You told us:

• You would prefer to have increased patrols during the evening and throughout the night, as well as regular patrols during the daytime.


• Nine out of ten respondents also sought the reassurance of knowing that police were patrolling, especially in their local area, in the town centre and near schools / colleges.

Here's what we're doing:

As a direct result of your feedback we've reviewed our patrol strategies and adjusted them where necessary. We've also reviewed the shift patterns of our neighbourhood policing teams - to make sure they're on duty when they're most needed. We also instruct our officers to increase their patrols in areas where you've told us (through the panel meeting process) that there's a problem.

We're also making sure we provide better information to residents and businesses about what their local teams have been doing to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour. We're working with the press to introduce regular policing columns in local newspapers.

You told us:

• You considered it important to have a local police station which offers reassurance to residents and provides access to police officers.


• Residents were open to considering alternatives to local police stations, with almost half supporting the idea of mobile police stations.

Here's what we're doing:

We've increased our use of our mobile police station vans for street briefings and visits to rural villages. In Fenland we're also using the CrimeBUSter bus in partnership with Fenland District Council to make it easier for local people to get help and support about crime and safety. We've also started carrying out some of our officer briefings. These have already been very successful in Peterborough, and we're reviewing our current enquiry office opening times to make sure we're open when you most need us.

You told us:

• You would like to get involved with policing through public meetings held locally to discuss local issues, or by talking to a police officer.

Here's what we're doing:

As part of our Policing Pledge, we hold at least one meeting per month in each neighbourhood in Cambridgeshire. We've also introduced a new 'dates for your diary' section on the My Neighbourhood pages of our website - making it easy for you to find out when your next meeting is.

We've also adjusted our plans to make the most of opportunities to meet local people. For example we now hold a regular police surgery at a church in Wisbech with the local migrant worker population.

You told us:

• Residents want to contact the police by telephone - by 999 call for emergencies and by using the non-emergency number, 0345 456 456 4, for other calls.


• Visiting a police station to report a crime was also seen as acceptable to many. There was less interest in being able to report crime electronically via email or text message.


• The majority of respondents want a visit from officers following an initial call, especially for incidents of burglary.


• Being told when officers would arrive was seen as extremely important. Most respondents felt that they should receive a phone call if the officers were not going to arrive within the agreed timeframe.


• Respondents felt that victims of vehicle crime would not need the same level of service as victims of burglary or violent crime.


• Being given realistic information about the likelihood of finding and arresting the people involved was seen as more important to victims of burglary and violent crime than the other crime types.


• Respondents felt that burglary victims - more than others - should be advised what will happen next, and why.


• Surprisingly small numbers of respondents said they would like further communication after an initial visit; half of respondents thought that victims of violent crime would want further communication and two thirds thought that burglary victims would. On the other hand, 70% thought that there need be no further communication regarding an incident of Anti Social Behaviour incident, and almost half for vehicle damage.


• The preferred method of communication for updates is the telephone. Across all types of crime, people would want to be contacted only when the police have something to report. Having said that, it was also considered important by most that they are contacted when there have been no key developments - to reassure them that the police are still following their lines of enquiry.

Here's what we're doing:

We're working hard to improve the level of service we deliver to victims of crime. We've introduced victim care contracts. These agree with victims and witnesses - from the outset of a crime or incident - how they prefer to be kept up to date and how often, and for how long, they want to be updated about progress. We're also making sure we give every victim of crime an update on the outcome of any forensic investigation and we've introduced a new appointment system to make it easier for people to talk to us.

We've made changes to the role of our Victim Care Officers to give a better service to victims of both crime and anti-social behaviour. We've also improved the level of support we offer to victims once someone has been charged with a crime, and enhanced the assistance we offer to those who are required to give evidence in court.