Surveys in the MPS: a Journey of Change in Understanding and Practice1

摘要

Recent government agendas have placed increased importance on capturing the views of the public to inform policy development. This growing recognition of public voices began with the publication of the White Paper ‘Modern Markets: Confident Consumers’ (Home Office, 1999) and signalled a change in policy decision making, rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach to delivery of public services and proposing mechanisms for greater direct consumer influence on Government policy. This bottom-up approach to policy making has grown over recent years and as a consequence public consultation has increased in importance within the public service arena. Surveys are identified as a useful and widely used research tool in obtaining public feedback and have been used within many large-scale organizations to deliver improved strategy and operational activity. Their use within police forces has not been as widespread until they became a requirement under the Policing Performance Assessment Framework. This paper will discuss the journey of the Metropolitan Police Service in public consultation and the evolution of its relationship with public surveys from one of mainly a ‘performance indicator’ to being used to inform strategy and operational delivery.