ESTEVAN - The latest public survey on the Estevan Police Service shows there is still a lot of trust and support for the municipal policing service, but numbers are lower than four years earlier.
The report, Community Perceptions of EPS, was released at the June 24 meeting of Estevan city council. Funded by the EPS and carried out by the University of Regina, it included telephone surveys of 251 Estevan residents between Sept. 6 and Oct. 5, 2023.
The report notes the decrease must be considered in the context of national and international matters.
"Public perceptions of most social institutions diminished following the COVID-19 pandemic, with the police particularly impacted with the high-publicity George Floyd incident," the report states.
"Although public perceptions of police have rebounded in some locations, in many, the public ratings have not returned to pre-pandemic levels."
All measures of trust and confidence remain high, the report states, with average scores mostly exceeding four on a five-point scale, with a five typically for a strongly agree response, and a one for strongly disagree.
Among the highlights:
•The average score for the EPS's visibility in the community was 4.44, with 86.1 per cent strongly agreeing or agreeing, and nobody strongly disagreeing. The average score in 2019 was 4.56;
•More than 18 per cent said the visibility of the EPS in their neighbourhood had increased, 78.2 per cent thought it had stayed the same and 3.7 per cent thought it had decreased;
•The EPS had an average score of 4.16 for demonstrating professionalism in its work, down from a 4.37 in 2019;
•The average score was 4.08 when people were asked if the Estevan Police Service is an organization with integrity and honesty, down from 4.39;
•The EPS had an average score of 4.52 from people when asked if they would have confidence in calling 911 for police assistance;
•When asked if the EPS understanding the issues affecting the community, the EPS received a score of 4.14, down from 4.3.
•Only 38.8 per cent of respondents said they had contact with the EPS in the previous 12 months from when the survey was conducted, down from 41.7 per cent in 2019.
•The EPS received a score of 4.25 in terms of satisfaction on how they dealt with the public.
•An estimated 85.8 per cent of people said they had not been a victim of crime in the past two years.
•The EPS received a score of 3.91 in terms of public satisfaction with the police response, down from 4.0 in 2019.
•One number that did improve was a score of 3.96 when people were asked how safe they view Estevan, up from 3.88 in 2019.
The survey also looked at people's priorities, such as traffic enforcement, impaired driving, drugs, police funding and even the presence of a school resource officer.
Police Chief Rich Lowen said he was pleased with the survey results due to the challenges facing policing since 2019.
"When we're in the four out of fives, that's a fantastic place to be in terms of our policing abilities," said Lowen.
He believes the perception of Estevan policing is very good in the community.
"We knew that, without the survey. We knew the support we had. The survey really backs up what we knew, so it was nice to see."
Lowen said the EPS always has to remain aware of all of the categories, and is doing to retain the public's trust.
Before his tenure as Estevan police chief ends on Aug. 31, Lowen would like to sit down with the new police chief – if one is hired – and go over the numbers and let his replacement take the EPS into the future. He believes it helps that these numbers have come out during the search for a new chief.
The data is also beneficial for the police board.
"That's the whole purpose of this survey is to give them a road map of what the people are looking for in the community, and from that end, I think the survey has served its purpose, and I think we're going to have to continue in the future doing surveys to make sure we listen to the people."
If a survey would have been carried out every year since 2019, Lowen said it would have been interesting to see the numbers. He believes the survey should happen every second year.
"I know there's a cost established to doing surveys. The University of Regina does a fantastic job of it. It's a good, consistent measure if you're measuring against the same parameters every two years. It just gives you a good indicator on the circumstances of that time."
