We know why confidence in police is lowest in the land

Is it any surprise, we wonder, that Lincolnshire Police have come bottom of the list of forces as far as public confidence is concerned.
Whilst we have always been pro-police, we have equally been critical of their reluctance to set foot on our litter strewn pavements and keep in regular contact with the public. This is what they really want, and the force's failure to do so it the most likely reason why confidence is so low.
Sadly this newest statistic was the one which caught the eye of Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, and not for the first time put Lincolnshire in the bad news spotlight.
Senior police and politicians say that they regard public confidence as the key measurement and it is now the only government target for police forces in England and Wales.
Out of the 43 forces in England and wales, Lincolnshire police came bottom - with only 38% of people having confidence in the way the police and the local councils were dealing with anti social behaviour and crime in the year to last September. The national average was 46%.
The force was unable to explain why people haven't got the confidence in Lincolnshire Police, but claimed that in more rural areas, the tolerance level, or the expectations of the public of what the police and local councils can deliver, tends to be higher.
The figures come from the BCS - the British Crime Survey - an authoritative poll commissioned by the Home Office.
Overall crime in Lincolnshire fell by 3% compared to 5% nationally, a 5% drop in violence against the person (the same nationally) and a 6% reduction in vehicle-related crime, ( down 10% nationally).
The general crime detection rate was 27% compared with 28% nationallyBut the main area of concern was in the robbery and home burglary figures.Robbery increased by 19% over the previous year and domestic burglary by 16%.
Chief Constable Richard Crompton tried to gloss over the satisfaction figures by saying that their own local independent survey, showed that 60% thought the police did a good or excellent job
Given that the police goals for the year ahead include overall user satisfaction levels of at least 85% plus cuts in the crime areas that are increasing, we feel that they have set themselves almost impossible task.
We know all about surveys at Boston Eye, because we've read the stuff and nonsense produced to justify the Into Town bus service using Strait Bargate as a rat run.
What we do know about policing in Boston is that the vast majority of people want to see the local force out on the streets, rather than expecting us to go to their twee little weekly coffee mornings and chew the fat about crime.
The answer to increasing public satisfaction is so simple, we just cannot see why the police have failed to grasp it.

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