Lack of public awareness leads to new Pledge publicity drive by the Government

A new government effort to publicise aspects of the Policing Pledge was launched last week by Home Secretary Alan Johnson after a poll showed the public did not know what to expect of the police.
A series of advertisements will be placed on television, the radio, in press and online. They will focus on two aspects of the Policing Pledge – the possibility for people to make appointments to speak with local officers about a non-emergency problem within 48 hours, and the fact that neighbourhood policing teams spend 80 per cent of their time out on visible patrol.
The advertisements have been launched after a new poll was published which revealed that most people think they would have to wait more than two days to get an appointment with a police officer and that only three per cent of people think their local police spends more than 75 per cent of the time on the beat.
The advertisements will be coupled with a leaflet drop to more than six million households in 60 areas across the UK, providing information about anti-social behaviour services, who to contact and how to complain if the services that should be provided are not available.
The leaflet drop provides the answer to the 81 per cent of people who said they would find it useful to receive information which provided the contact details for the local police and other crime and antisocial behaviour services in their area; and the 77 per cent of those people who said that the most useful way to receive such information would be as a leaflet through the door.
The Policing Pledge is just one part of the Policing Green Paper, published last summer, which signalled a fundamental shift in police accountability and reporting. All 43 police forces have signed up to the Pledge which sets out a range of promises about what the public can expect from the police.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: “The Policing Pledge sets out the standards the public can expect from their local force. We need to tell the public about these commitments – that neighbourhood police are pledging to spend 80 per cent of their time on the beat, and that people can make an appointment to meet their local police team at a time that’s convenient to the citizen. By letting people know about these standards of service that all police forces have signed up to, we hope that people will have greater confidence to come forward to report crime and give evidence against criminals in court; because they’ll know that the police are a visible presence locally, available to be on their side.
“Part of this campaign is also about making it easier for the public to know what their rights are if they are suffering from anti-social behaviour so they don’t end up being passed from pillar to post.
“It also tells them about what service they should receive if they are a victim and who to contact to ensure their voice is heard.”
The campaign also promotes a new crime and justice area of the direct.gov website – developed as a key way for people to access information about police, crime, justice and anti-social behaviour services, including the details of their local neighbourhood policing team, crime maps, how to nominate areas to be cleaned up by offenders undertaking community payback and services for victims and witnesses. For the first time this information will all be available be in one place and can be accessed by entering a postcode.