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Community Safety Survey 2007
Your views on crime count
Every three years, the Safer Surrey Heath Partnership carries out a Community Safety Survey to identify the perceptions people have about crime in their neighbourhood. It also seeks to ascertain why residents associate any fears they may have with specific areas, and what they would like to see done to make their neighbourhood safer.
Surrey Heath has low victimisation rates, and under one fifth of respondents (19.2 per cent) to our 2007 survey started that fear of crime affected their lifestyle. Some 47 per cent of those who said they were fearful of crime cited the reporting of crime in the media as the main reason - with only nine per cent citing the apparent level of crime in their area as the reason.
Community spirit in Surrey Heath
The Community Safety Survey 2007 was carried out in June 2007 by GB Associates on behalf of the Safer Surrey Heath Partnership, and follows a similar survey undertaken in 2004. The Partnership canvassed the views of 4,390 members of the community and received a 29.7 per cent response rate (1,304 completed surveys). The highest response rate (50 per cent) was from the borough's young people.
A key finding was that more than half of residents in Surrey Heath felt there was a sense of community spirit in their neighbourhood, compared with 40 per cent in 2004. Ninety-two per cent said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the area in which they live, compared with 83 per cent in 2004. Just over 12 per cent had been a victim of crime in the last 12 months, compared with 39 per cent in 2004. Almost 60 per cent of respondents felt that the crime and disorder situation had not changed in the last 12 months; 17 per cent felt it had worsened and 7.9 per cent felt it had improved.
Most residents' concerns focused on quality of life issues such as speeding vehicles, parking on pavements, young people hanging around, litter and dog fouling. The five highest priorities fell into this category, with the first 'crime' on the list being vandalism and damage at number six. Priorities for future action identified by the residents reflected this focus on quality of life issues.
Just over a third of respondents identified areas where they felt particularly unsafe, compared with 46 per cent in 2004. Camberley town centre was cited by over half of those, primarily due to drunken behaviour. Other areas identified were the Old Dean, Heatherside shops and Frimley Green recreation ground. Sixteen per cent had been victims of anti-social behaviour, with 40 per cent of these incidents taking place outside the home. Sixty-two per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with local policing.
A survey of young people (541 completed surveys) revealed they were most concerned about litter, underage drinking, alcohol abuse, loud music and neighbourhood disputes. While victimisation of young people was slightly higher than for residents, fear of crime was significantly lower. The data suggested that young people, particularly boys, were not as active as they might be in taking positive action to prevent them becoming a victim of crime - particularly in terms of protecting personal property such as mobile phones.
The primary concern of businesses surveyed was traffic-related, but included burglary and 'young people hanging around'. While a quarter of business respondents (41 completed surveys) had been a victim of crime in the last 12 months, only 10 per cent (four) said that they made any budgetary provision for the impact of crime.