What people in my school and community think about the police and what they do: a small-scale study Christopher Orme age 10

Introduction My topic is about police I chose it because I might become a police officer I want to see what people think of the police because lots of people say that the police don’t do anything to help their community

My research questions are:

What do people think about police in the community? What do people think the police do in the station and in the streets?

Sample: I asked the people in my school and in the community because what I wanted to know is what other people think of the police in my local community I asked children in year groups 3, 4, 5 and 6 and teachers I didn’t get many answers from Year 6 An adult helped me to ask other adults and teenagers in the community groups where he works

Methods: I used questionnaires first The questionnaires help me to find out enough data to make questions for my interview Questionnaires: age 7-18 (n=57) age 19 and older (n=15) Then I interviewed a Police Community Support Officer who works in my local community

Data analysis Mainly my questions were closed but two were open I tallied the answers of my closed questions I had to sort answers to my open questions into categories This is called coding Then I used Microsoft Excel with an adult helping me to organize my data and to make my graphs

Ethics I had to make sure I didn’t upset anyone or make them angry with my questions so I tried to be ethical An adult helped me with interviews outside school so I’m safe I told the participants that their work will be anonymous and confidential and I told them that they do not have to do it if they don’t want to I also said that their work would be destroyed at the end of my project I kept their questionnaires in a safe place

Ethics.2 This is how I wrote the introduction to my questionnaire My name is Christopher and I am doing some research on what people think about the Police and what they do. I would really appreciate your help with completing this questionnaire. Anything that you write will remain anonymous and confidential. All of my research work will be kept in a safe place and destroyed at the end of the project. You do not have to try this questionnaire if you do not want to.

Findings

Do you think the police help people in the community? Most people think that the police do help in the community But most older people think that police help only sometimes Most younger people are more sure that the police are usually or always helpful in the community

How do you feel about the police being around in the community? More than 80% of people over the age of 19 are very happy about the police being in the community Almost 80% of the kids at the age of 7-18 are very happy or happy about the police being out in the community Very few of the kids and none of the adults are unhappy about the police being in the community

What do you think the police do when they’re out on the streets? 7-18 years (n=57)

What do you think the police do when they're out on the streets? Top 5 things suggested by 7-18 YEAR olds: Protecting the community Looking to see if the people are doing crime Making sure that everybody is alright Helping people (Joint 5th) Protecting streets from vandalism Arresting people

What do you think police do when they’re out on the streets? AGE 19 AND OVER (n=15)

What do you think the police do when they're out on the streets? Top 5 things suggested by 19 and over: Looking to see if the people are doing crime As a deterrent – this means the police being around stops people from doing crime (Joint 3rd) Protecting the community Making friends Making me feel safe

What do you think the police do when they’re back at the police station? 7-18 YEARS (n=54)

What do you think the police do when they're back at the police station? Top 5 things suggested by 7-18 YEAR olds: Deal with arrested people Cctv (Joint 3rd ) Paper work Having a break Discussing cases with their colleagues

What do you think the police do when they’re back at the station? AGE 19 AND OVER (n=15)

What do you think the police do when they're back at the police station? Top 5 things suggested by 19 and over: Paper work (Joint 2nd) Having a break Interviews Discussing cases with their colleagues Training

Do you agree that the police are here to protect people in their community? (percentage of sample)

Interview with a POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER

What do the police do when they are out in the community? It’s always different every day Sometimes dealing with 999 calls And sometimes dealing with general things like parking Meeting and talking to people Visiting schools, old people’s homes and different community centres Telling people what we do and helping people

What do the police do when they are back at the station? Not just having a cup of tea! Using Commander Control - a computer system that tells us what jobs need to be done Research - for example tracking down car owners Lots of paper work!

Why do you like or not like about being out in the community? LIKES Likes meeting people Solving problems Being asked for advice Being out side and not being stuck at a desk DON`T LIKES People shouting out and calling us names

“I would say the only down side is one or two people do shout out and call us names just because we are an officer. You can just breeze past that and it’s just water off a ducks back and let it just go over your head because the people are doing it not because they dislike you but because you’re wearing a uniform.”

How do people act when they see you in the community? Most people love seeing us about They talk to us and tell us things Most people are very nice to us

Discussion and Conclusion

I think that I’ve found out so much about what people in my school and some in the community think the police do in the streets and at the station and what the police really do It would make my research work better if I had more adults doing my questionnaires I did not get many from year 6 but that is ok because I said that they could do it if they wanted to

I was happy that people think the police help Before I started this research project I thought that people did not like the police so I am a little bit surprised that most people like them I’m still not very sure about how adults like the police being around in the community because I didn’t get lots of adults to do my questionnaire

The police community support officer I interviewed said that she mainly talks to people and gives people advice as well as dealing with crime The people that filled in my questionnaires thought that the police make friends in the community and stops people from doing crime and so they are right

People are right about the police doing paperwork but what people don’t know is that the police uses Commander Control to tell the police what they need to do The people who did my questionnaires thought the police always have a break when they get back to the police station They have a break but they still have a lot to do

If I did more research about the police I would find out about how hard can a police officers job be I need to interview a detective and maybe someone from the traffic police By doing so I can get more information about what all type of police officers do I could be something else I might want to be but I’m still not sure about becoming a police officer!