Building trust with Simulator: citizen priorities for blue-light services
The challenge
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) were introduced in 2012 across most of England and Wales. Their role is one of oversight and scrutiny: their aim is to ensure that a police force is running effectively, and to cut crime as a result. A key part of their remit is to increase public trust in police forces and hold them to account.
Northamptonshire Police Force's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) is Stephen Mold, who was elected in 2017. However, Northants' reputation took a hit after a report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services (HMICFRS) concluded that the force 'needed improvement'. They needed to reassure the public that they were working hard to put these improvements into place, and that their processes for doing so were transparent and open.
The approach
Simulator was an ideal way for the Commissioner's office to gauge Northants citizens' opinion of the force and what it should focus on moving forward. They used a Policing Priorities Simulator, which enables an organisation to gather citizens' priorities on things less concrete than budget figures, like time and existing resources such as officers and focus areas.
Service groups such as "answering telephone emergency (999) calls" and "speaking to and hearing from communities" were put forward and participants could allocate points to the services they valued the most. Simulator works by providing sliders that participants can move left or right to allocate or remove points from a service or focus area. This demonstrates the tradeoffs involved with complex decision-making.
The results
At the end of every Simulator is the option to include a set of demographics questions. Northants went a step further with this section and included a set of questions related to how the public felt about the police force, and whether or not they trusted them to address crime effectively in the area.
The result was clear, informed and valuable feedback that provided a real insight into the things that citizens valued the most. And by consulting with the public on the direction of Northants police, the Commissioner's office demonstrated that they took respondents' views seriously and were committed to change and improvement.
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