Annual city centre feelings of safety perception survey (2007)
Contact officer: Sandra Roscoe, Citysafe, Community Safety service
Tel: 0151 225 4851
Email: Sandra.Roscoe@liverpool.gov.uk
Start date: 1 April 2007
End date: 29 June 2007
Purpose of the exercise:
To ascertain the perceptions of people who live and work in the city centre, looking specifically at the:
- access to the city centre
- 'BigDig'
- environment
- nightlife
- economy
Who was consulted and how:
Face-to-face interviews and a postal questionnaire were carried out with a sample of people who work and live in the city centre and people who visit for nights out
Who were the results e reported to:
The results were reported to:
- Citysafe - Liverpool's crime and disorder reduction partnership
- the city centre joint action groups
- Liverpool Vision's environment working group
- the council's Culture, Media and Sport select committee
What were the findings of the exercise:
The key findings of the exercise were as follows:
- 65% of non-city centre Liverpool residents said that they feel very safe in the city centre during the day, compared to 75% of people who live outside of Liverpool
- of city centre residents, 95% feel safe during the day, 49% in the evening and 28% at night
- for people who say that they come into the city centre at different times of the day, 98% feel safe during the day, 85% in the evening and 70% at night
- for those people who were interviewed during a night out, 99% feel safe during the day, 74% during the evening and 54% at night
- fewer people who consider themselves to be disabled feel safe in the city centre during the evening and night compared to the non-disabled, with 49% disabled and 63% non-disabled in the evening and 26% disabled and 46% non-disabled during the night. This variation in night-time safety is due to half of all disabled people answering the question by saying it wasn't relevant to them. If these are excluded, the night-time feelings of safety is only slightly lower for disabled people (59%) than for the non-disabled (62%)
- being the victim of crime only effects feelings of safety in the city centre during the night-time, as the figures for daytime and evening feelings of safety do not vary significantly between victims and non-victims. However, at night only 52% of vicitims feel safe, against 63% of non-victims.
What are the changes to the service brought about as a result of the consultation:
The preliminary findings of the exercise were discussed during the city centre joint agency away day on 27th April 2007. Interventions will be targeted at the key areas and vulnerable communities identified by the consultation research. In particular, a marketing campaign to increase the feelings of safety for women in the city centre was commissioned before December 2007. A poster campaign, was carried out in city centre bars and pubs during November 2007, with the key message of keeping females safe at night in the city centre. This campaign was supported by outdoor activities in the city centre, such as, distributing promotional items during the night-time, targetting women with the key message of 'drinking too much can make you vulnerable, know your limits'.