Polisens kunskap – allmänhetens trygghet En utvärdering av polisområde Älvsborgs trygghetsmätning

Abstract

Aim is to investigate from a criminological perspective how the safety questionnaire in Älvsborg police district can be improved theoretically and methodologically, in order for the questionnaire to effectively measure criminal victimisation, concern about crime, safety and confidence in the police. 1. What should a good questionnaire contain? - Which methodological problems are related to measuring criminal victimisation, concern about crime and confidence in the police? - Which criminological theories are interesting in this context and how can questions be designed from these theories? 2. How will the themes now represented in the questionnaire be measured in the best possible way? Are there any reasons to remove, The material consists of questions from the safety questionnaire, the total analysis report and individual reports for the local authorities, as well the results and technical information from Mind Research. The material has been analysed from theoretical, methodological and usability criteria’s. Theoretically the questionnaires operationalization from social disorganisation theory, reassurance policing theory and previous research has been evaluated. In order to examine the safety questionnaire from a policing perspective focus has been on the reassurance theory. Methodologically the execution, generalizability, validity and reliability have been examined. The usability has been examined by examining how the police have used the results in practise. The results indicate that theoretically factors are missing from the questionnaire. Methodologically the questionnaire as a whole had good a response rates, some areas had lower response rates than others. As a recommendation weighing of the results and complementary methods are made in order to increase the response rates. Some questions show low responses, other had problems with reliability. The validity problem was not as substantial but certain factors were missing. It would be desirable to formulate new questions in order to increase validity in the operationalization process. Practically the analysis reports shows problem due to reliability problems. Thorough analysis would have led to better suggestions for the local authorities. New questions for each theme are suggested, as well how the questions can be used practically also how they are linked to theory.