Written question asked by Iris Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) on Tuesday, 13 October 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 15 October 2009. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Police

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps he plans to take to assess public opinion on the adequacy of police coverage across the district command units of Northern Ireland.

Answer: A key role for the Policing Board and District Policing Partnerships is to engage directly with the public on policing matters, and to gauge public views on policing. This includes surveys on satisfaction levels with police patrols in local areas. In April 2009 the Policing Board published results of its Omnibus Survey 'Public perceptions of the police, DPPs and the Northern Ireland Policing Board'; this survey found that 42 per cent. of respondents were very/fairly satisfied with the levels of police patrols in their local area.

Secondary information