Public Attitudes About Crime and the Police in Regina

• NCJ Number: 80123
• Author(s): J H Hylton; R Matonovich; J Varro; B Thakker; D Broad
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 136 pages
• Corporate Author: Regina Police Dept
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: Canada

Annotation

Findings are presented from a survey designed to obtain baseline data on public attitudes about crime and the police prior to the establishment of zone policing in Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada).

Abstract

In zone policing, a team of police officers is posted to a particular geographic area to provide services in that area around the clock. Conventional policing, on the other hand, usually envisions one large catchment area, with each shift responsible for policing the entire area. Prior to the implementation of zone policing in Regina, a survey of public attitudes was conducted to obtain baseline data which will be compared to another survey of public attitudes to be conducted after zone policing has been in operation for some time. The questionnaires, which were delivered to and picked up from a sample of 552 randomly-selected citizens between August 14, and September 20, 1979, focused on citizen attitudes about crime and the police in Regina. Usable questionnaires were received from 438 of the respondents (about 80 percent). The volume of crime reported by the respondents was considerably lower than expected on the basis of media reports and respondents' anxiety about crime. The widespread expressions of fear and anxiety about crime seem incongruous with the fact that nearly two-thirds of the respondents did not personally know any individual who had been victimized in the previous 6 months. The geographic zones in the city with the highest rates of crime were not the zones where respondents expressed the greatest fear of crime nor underscored the seriousness of crime. Overall, citizens were pleased with police performance. Implications of these findings for zone policing are discussed. Public and police attitudes are compared regarding the perceived seriousness of the crime problem, the quality of police-community communications, and attitudes toward persons of Indian ancestry. Materials used in the survey are appended, and tabular data are provided, along with nine references.