The States of Jersey Police Third Quarter 2006 Performance Report

1240/5(3047)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS BY DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY, 24th OCTOBER 2006

Question

With reference to the recently released States of Jersey Police Third Quarter Performance Report, would the Minister –

( a ) advise whether the data contained in the report is compiled by the States of Jersey Police and, if so,

whether it is independently verified?

( b ) give details of the methodology used to determine the figures under the Customer Focus heading

(Figures 9 and 10) and state whether the survey was independently carried out or verified?

( c ) supply evidence supporting the statement Speed strips laid down on major routes with 30 mph

restrictions over the past couple of years identified that between one and two thousand motorists were speeding at 36mph or more per day at each location'. In particular would she inform members –

(i ) h ow many routes are monitored and how often, what the daily traffic flow is on these routes, and

what the percentile speeds logged were?

( ii ) w hat the accident record of these routes is compared with the Island average and explain the

methodology used to obtain that comparison?

( d ) und ertake to discuss the speed limits for roads where the statistics show that more than 50% of

motorists are doing 36mph or more' with the Minister for Transport and Technical Services to ascertain whether the current speed limit in the areas concerned is realistic?

( e ) with reference to Figure 13, give a comparison of those figures with the percentage that each

nationality forms of the total population.

Answer

1. The data is compiled by the States of Jersey Police Planning and Research Unit which is staffed by civil servants with the relevant professional qualifications. The information is taken from Police crime recording systems. The Force's processes for recording and collating crime data are independently audited by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. This was undertaken in the 2003 Inspection. The 2003 HMI Inspection Report stated –

A t  t he   time of the Inspection a crime audit was carried out to ensure that States of Jersey Police

crime recording practices were both ethical and complied with Home Office Counting Rules. The results were very encouraging and verified States of Jersey Police compliance with key UK crime recording practices.'

2. The Deputy 's question relates to figures cited in the Quarterly Performance Report relevant to the perceived quality of service received by victims of crime in terms of the handling of their initial call for Police assistance, the service they received from attending officers, the feedback they subsequently received on the progress of the investigation and their overall impression of the job done by States of Jersey Police in policing the Island.

T he data is gathered from a rolling programme of quality of service surveys sent to most individual victims

of crime up to a month after the crime was reported. Where it is deemed inappropriate (e.g. a domestic violence victim), surveys are not issued. The responses are then processed as follows –

1. C al culate the total number of respondents to the question.

2 . S u bt ract any blank responses, Don't Knows' and Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied' responses

from the total number of respondents. This leaves a total number of respondents expressing a definitive opinion on the service they have received from totally satisfied' to totally dissatisfied'.

3. A dd together the number of survey respondents stating that they were totally satisfied', very satisfied' or satisfied' in response to the question. This gives a total for the number of respondents who were at least satisfied'.
4. D ivide the total number of respondents who were at least satisfied' with the number of people who expressed a definitive opinion in response to the question.

T he ques tion on overall policing performance offers respondents a different range of responses from a very good job through to a very poor job. The same method of calculation is used, excluding blank

and don't know' responses. This same methodology has been applied to the survey findings as reported in annual and quarterly performance reports since the survey was introduced in 2003. Overall the surveys continue to show evidence of strong public satisfaction with the service provided.

It is n ormal practice for such surveys to be carried out in-house as their main purpose is to monitor

quality of service provided by officers, address performance and training issues and, in some cases, follow up issues of concern with respondents. In any event there is no funding available to undertake this type of work by any other means. The surveys are carried out by the Force's Planning and Research Unit who developed the questionnaire in consultation with UK Forces who run similar surveys. The 2003 HMI Inspection reviewed their role in community consultation and quality of service surveys and commented –

H er   M  ajesty's Inspector was impressed with the professional environment within which the planning

and research department operates.'

F igur e  9 also includes figures for the proportion of Police emergency response attended within target

response times. The response time is calculated from the time the emergency call is received by the Police Control Room to the time of arrival at the scene.

3. The Police do not regularly monitor traffic flows and speeds but have occasionally dip sampled data provided by the Transport and Technical Services Department for routes with a higher occurrence of road traffic collisions. The data is gathered by laying monitors on the road surface that record volumes of traffic flow and the speeds of vehicles passing over the site. The quarterly performance report alluded to high levels of speeding across various 30mph sites in order to highlight the fact that more efficient methods of speed enforcement such as the hand held speed camera now in use may prove to be more effective in gradually changing driver behaviour in Jersey.

T he routes referred to in the report were La Grande Route de la Côte, La Route de la Haule and La Grande

Route de St Laurent.

O n La Grande Route de la Côte, a five day period saw a daily average of 1,060 drivers speeding at 36mph

or more. The daily number of vehicles passing through the monitoring site was nearly 12,800. Of these, 56% were within the speed limit, 31% were driving at between 30 and 35mph, 12% at between 36 and 45mph and 1%, or over 400 drivers, at 46mph or more. The route has the fourth highest reported RTC rate outside of St Helier with 85 reports since January 2004.

O n La Grande Route de St Laurent, a sixteen day period saw a daily average of 1,755 drivers speeding at

36mph or more. The daily number of vehicles passing through the monitoring site was nearly 5,800. Of these 23% were within the speed limit, 47% were driving at between 30 and 35mph, 29% at between 36 and 45mph and 1% at 46mph or more. That 1% still equates to over 1,300 drivers over the 16 days. The route has the 15th highest reported RTC rate outside of St Helier with 36 reports since January 2004.

O n La Route de la Haule, an 18-day period saw an average of 1,570 drivers speeding at 36mph or more.

The daily number of vehicles passing through the monitoring site was nearly 15,400. Of these 53% were within the speed limit, 37% were driving at between 30 and 35mph, 10% at between 36 and 45mph and less than 1% at 46mph or more. The latter still equates to over 800 drivers over the 18-day period. The route has the tenth highest reported RTC rate outside of St. Helier with 48 reports since January 2004.

T here is no such figure as an Island average for road traffic collisions per road and therefore no

methodology for counting one.

4. None of the data seen by States of Jersey Police identifies 30mph zones where more than 50% of motorists were driving at 36mph or more.
5. The Deputy is referring to figures published in the Police quarterly performance report concerning the place of birth of persons arrested and placed in Police custody during 2006. Rounded up, these figures show that 53% of prisoners were Jersey born, 24% from the UK, 10% from Portugal or Madeira, 5% from Poland and the remainder from elsewhere.

A ny crude comparison of such data with the proportion of nationalities in the population would, at best, be

meaningless and, at worst, give a totally flawed impression of offending amongst national groups in the population. For example - the overall proportions tell us nothing about the age breakdown of each national grouping. Over 37% of the Jersey born population are either young children or over the age of 60. Such age groups commit very little crime. By comparison, for example, only about 6% of the Portuguese-born population are in these age groups.

S eas onal labour does not figure in the count of the total resident population. The workforce increases by

over 3,000 each summer. Any comparison purely on the basis of resident population would therefore distort the figures in relation to Polish and Portuguese nationals. Nor would it take into account crimes committed by short term visitors.

A person's socio-economic profile is a significant variable in interpreting data on offending and arrest

rates. Any comparison on the basis of nationality alone would take no account of the socio-economic profile of each economic group. For example if one particular national group was predominantly engaged in manual work then a realistic comparison with other groups would only be possible if that comparison was made with those members of other nationalities who were engaged at a similar economic level.

N otwithstanding the problematic nature of working with data collected for different purposes and which

may not be strictly comparable, should the Deputy wish to make the type of comparison to which he refers then I suggest that he makes use of the data from the last census which is fully within the public domain, although I am sure that he will be aware that some time has passed since then and that the data may not be an accurate reflection on the current composition of the Island's population. The States Statistics Unit would be able to provide updated estimates.