Regina police chief discusses results of survey on public perceptions

A new survey shows a significant increase in the number of Regina residents who believe the level of crime in their neighbourhood has increased over the past two years.

According to the Community Perceptions of the Regina Police Survey, 2019 — the results of which were released Thursday by the Regina Police Service — 43.8 per cent of the 455 residents polled said crime had increased in their area of the city since 2017.

That was the highest such figure in the past five editions of the survey. The number was 18.2 per cent in 2011, 13.8 per cent in 2013, 23.7 per cent in 2015 and 31.9 per cent in 2017.

The percentage of people who said the level of crime stayed the same in their neighbourhood over the past two years fell to 50.7 per cent from 61.8 per cent in 2017. That figure was 71.0 per cent in 2013.

The percentage of respondents who felt the level of crime decreased in their area over the past two years dropped to 5.5 per cent from 6.3 per cent in 2017. That number was as high as 18.2 per cent in 2011.

The survey, which was conducted by telephone between Sept. 4 and Oct. 3, was designed by University of Regina professors Dr. Nicholas A. Jones and Dr. Rick Ruddell.

Asked how safe Regina is, respondents gave the city a 3.24 out of 5.0. That score was down from 3.34 in 2017 and 3.57 in 2013.

“We weren’t surprised to see this year that the perception of safety in the city has gone down,” Evan Bray, the chief of the police service, said during the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Friday. “You and I talk almost on a weekly basis about guns, drugs and gangs and that absolutely affects the way people feel about safety.”

Those who took part in the survey gave the Regina Police Service’s quality of service a 4.0 out of 5.0, which was consistent with the 3.99 it received in 2017.

Of the respondents who interacted with the police service in 2019, 76 per cent said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the level of service they received. The average level of satisfaction has increased from 3.58 (on a scale from one to five) in 2006 to 4.11 in 2019.

Asked about their general level of trust and confidence in the police, Indigenous respondents gave the RPS an average of 18.8 out of 25. That was lower than the confidence shown by individuals from visible minorities (21.1 out of 25) and from white respondents (21.6 out of 25).

Bray said the figure relating to the trust shown in the police by the Indigenous population has increased over the past 10 years, but still isn’t where the RPS wants it to be.

“(Increasing that number) is about a couple of things: Building relationships in the community — that’s something that we focus on all the time — but really it comes down to the quality of service we deliver (and) the interactions we have on a daily basis,” Bray said. “We need to make sure that those are always positive and done in a professional manner.”

Those who took part in the survey said the RPS could improve its service by: Increasing its visibility and presence (including hiring more officers); increasing the number of patrols in high crime areas; placing a greater focus on gangs, drugs and alcohol; focusing more on property and petty crimes; and, enforcing laws and traffic violations and staging more checkstops.

“Generally speaking, people like visibility of police in their community,” Bray said. “It helps their perception of safety (and) it helps response times.”

Bray also discussed figures detailing the use of force by his officers. That number decreased nine per cent from the previous year.

“Use of force is very much on an individual, case-by-case basis,” he said. “We do a lot of work on de-escalation — we have been for the last quite a few years — so anytime we can handle a situation without using force, then obviously we do.

“Having the number just under 300 — when you consider we have hundreds of thousands of interactions with the public every year — I think that’s a real positive thing.”