Latest survey shows decline in positive perception of Regina Police Service

For the first time in more than a decade, the public perception of the Regina Police Service has dropped.

That’s according to the sixth, and latest, community perceptions survey that’s done every other year.

According to the survey, this is the first time in more than 15 years that there was a decrease in the public’s perception of the police service across the board.

The University of Regina helps conduct the survey, with 450 responses from people around the city being used to conduct data.

Nick Jones, a professor in the department of justice studies at the University of Regina, helped develop the survey.

He says the results didn’t come as a surprise.

“Almost every category dropped slightly,” Jones said. “Are these drops concerning? I don’t think so. I think this was a reflection of a whole bunch of things going on in society in general, because we saw it across virtually every police service in the country.

“I think this just went with a general malaise in the community (and) concerns of trust and confidence in everything.”

Jones believes the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the killing of George Floyd in the United States played a part in prompting the slight shift in public perception.

He says it all plays a part in how society has been more polarized recently.

The numbers didn’t come as a surprise to Regina Police Chief Evan Bray, either.

“Given what the two-year period had looked like from 2019 to 2021, when we conducted the survey, there was a lot of change in the world and I don’t think that’s an overstatement,” Bray said.

“There’s a lot of things even particular to policing that had changed, so we were expecting to see a downward turn in terms of satisfaction, even feelings of safety, just because of the turmoil that we had seen.

“I really do view these as opportunities to understand why this is happening and what do we need to do to try and enhance and improve that relationship.”

As a result of the last few years, Bray says the police force has been working harder to build partnerships with organizations in the community to improve relationships with different groups of people.

“I think it’s just the importance of not lumping a bunch of diverse groups together but understanding there are some very specific needs out there,” Bray said. “It’s an opportunity to build relationships, which has been going very well.”

Some notable highlights from the report include:

• 60.5 per cent of people surveyed agreed that RPS personnel are a visible presence in their community while 15.3 per cent disagreed and 24.2 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.
• 75.6 per cent agreed that the RPS demonstrates professionalism in its work while 9.8 per cent disagreed and 14.7 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.
• 71.8 per cent agreed the RPS is sensitive to the needs of their ethnic group while 10.6 per cent disagreed and 17.6 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.
• 85.2 per cent agreed they would have confidence in calling 9-1-1 in an emergency situation requiring police presence, while 7.7 per cent disagreed and 7.2 per cent neither agreed nor
• 65.3 per cent agreed that RPS officers understand the issues that affect the community while 12.3 per cent disagreed and 22.4 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed.

When comparing satisfaction levels between the three police districts since 2011, respondents in the south and north police districts reported increased levels of satisfaction compared to the last survey, while respondents in the central district reported a decline in satisfaction.

When it came to respondents interacting with police, 39 per cent said they had some form of contact with the police service in the past year, while 69 per cent said they initiated their contact with police.

The survey took place between Sept. 8 and Oct. 21 of 2021. It included five new questions compared to the previous survey.

These questions focused on people’s contact with the RPS while the others were related to the quality of service.