Security and Safety in the village:

This section considered crime and policing in the village and the results will be made available to Leicestershire Constabulary. As some people noted, the area police station covering Sapcote is now Blaby and not Hinckley.

The survey found that 72% of respondents were concerned about crime in the village. This figure was highest among villagers aged 61 and over of whom 80%were worried about crime in Sapcote. The figures concerning fear of crime were supported by the results of the question which asked villagers whether they had been a victim of criminal  or anti-social behavior in Sapcote. Of 889 responses to this question, 552 reported at least one incident in which they were a victim of such activity.

The following table shows the results of question 50 which asked about the types of behavior people in the village had experienced.

Of the people in the village, 92 said that they were happy with the response time when they contacted the police. However, 149 were dissatisfied. 86 people were then satisfied with the action taken, but again, 149 people responded that they were not. The final part of question 51 asked whether those who had contacted the police were pleased with the general level of service. 94 people answered positively, and 142 felt that the level of service fell below their expectations. This data shows that nearly 250 people in the village had contacted the police within the last 12 months. Since 552 people stated that they had been a victim of some form of criminal or anti-social behavior, the data shows that just under half of these people have suffered sufficiently to warrant police involvement.

Question 52 concerned contacting the police. 70% of respondents felt that being able to telephone the local police station directly would improve communication with the police force. The same number also wanted to have telephone contact with the designated local police officer. Email was far less popular, 23% of respondents thought this would be beneficial, but 28% answered the question in the negative. The questionnaire asked whether people would like a specific place in the village where they could go and meet with the local officer to discuss their concerns or policing related issues. 82% of women and 74% of men said that they would like such an arrangement. A sizable minority, 10% of women and 19% of men disagreed.

Respondents were asked about how they thought crime in the village could be reduced  77% of respondents said that CCTV at blackspots would be beneficial and 82% of respondents wanted a more visible police presence. Better street lighting was only  selected by 35% of respondents. 66% of respondents said that they would like the police to enforce the law concerning those who park illegally.

To learn about crime prevention techniques, two thirds of respondents expressed an interest in receiving leaflets. 39% of respondents would like a presentation by the police on crime prevention, and just under one third said that they would like a display in the library.

The table below shows the results of question 59, which asked villagers how they would like the local officer to spend his time policing Sapcote. Note that people were allowed to select more than one answer.

The survey found that only 21 men and 30 women were interested in learning about becoming a special constable in the village.  The respondents were also asked about using precept funding to purchase more community policing time. 47% were in favour and 40% were against. The figures for a private security warden showed that  whilst 32% would support a rise in the precept to fund such a scheme, 50% people objected. Since people were more willing to pay for community officer time, this suggests that residents of Sapcote consider that maintaining law and order is the duty of the official police service.

Conclusions: It would appear from the data that a large number of people in the village have suffered from some sort of criminal or anti-social activity. However the data suggests that less than half of this was reported to the police. Property crime dominated the statistics, but a  very small minority of respondents had been the victim of an offence against the person. It seems from the data that there was some dissatisfaction with the police in terms of responding to reported crime and the action taken. A large number of respondents felt that communications with the police could be improved and many people wanted more information about crime prevention. A large number of respondents also wished to see a greater police presence in the village, although very few felt that this could justify an increase in the village precept.