Feelings of safety in the presence of the police, security guards and police volunteers

• Uniformed presence is commonly thought to create feelings of safety in people.However, do differently uniformed people contribute to an equal amount of safety and arethere situation-dependent differences? The present study examined the association betweenvarious types of uniformed presence and people’s feelings of safety through a questionnaireamong 352 respondents (18–86 years) (49.1 % women). The questionnaire contained picturesof situations perceived as relatively safe and unsafe with or without uniformed presence. Therespondents estimated how safe they thought they would feel in these situations with nouniformed presence, two police officers, six police officers, a police vehicle, two securityguards, or two police volunteers. Results showed that uniformed presence did not increasefeelings of safety in a situation perceived as relatively safe, making patrol unnecessary. Insituations perceived as relatively unsafe however, all types of uniformed presence increasedfeelings of safety. Foot patrolling police contributed to the greatest increase in feelings ofsafety. Security guards and police volunteers created similar amounts of feelings of safetymaking police volunteers a cost-effective alternative. All types of foot patrol were better thanvehicle patrol, making non-police groups an alternative to vehicle patrol. Some situational,gender, and age differences were found.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik -- Juridik och samhälle (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law -- Law and Society (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Feelings of safety

Foot patrol

Police volunteers

Policing

Security guards

Vehicle patrol

Psykologi

Psychology

Kriminologi

Criminology

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