Background to the Research

• The NICCS was carried out in 1996 in order to better understand the nature and extent of crime in NI. The underlying rationale of the survey was that crime, victimisation, policing and related matters varied across different communities to an extent as yet uncovered by official data in the Chief Constable's Annual Report and the NIO's Commentaries on NI Crime Statistics.
  

Research Approach

• Three variables were included in the NICCS; urban/small town division; the extent of deprivation in the communities; and the religious composition of the communities. Using these variables, five types of communities were identified; predominantly Catholic lower working class urban communities; predominantly Protestant lower working class urban communities; religiously mixed middle class urban communities; predominantly Catholic middle class small town communities; and predominantly Protestant middle class small town communities.
• A number of electoral wards were selected; 4 from lower working class Catholic communities; 3 from the Protestant lower working class communities; 3 from the mixed middle class communities; and 2 each from the predominantly Catholic and predominantly Protestant small towns. Households were then selected at random from the electoral register within each ward and residents interviewed with a laptop computer using the Computer Assisted Personal Interview technique and, in total, 1621 interviews were completed.
  

Main Findings

Community perceptions regarding crime

• Respondents in Catholic lower working class urban communities consistently faced more social, environmental, policing and crime problems than those in other communities. Middle class respondents mentioned fewer problems, apart from vehicle theft. Those in small towns mentioned fewer problems but felt some of them to of major local significance.
• Respondents in Protestant lower working class urban communities were less likely to consider these issues as amounting to a 'big problem' than those in Catholic lower working class communities.

Communities and levels of victimisation

• The NICCS found a victimisation rate of 24.2% among Catholic lower working class urban communities, 21.7% among those in Protestant lower working class communities, 25% among those in mixed middle class communities, 20.4% among small town Catholic communities and 14.5% among small town Protestant communities.
• Fifty-eight per cent of respondents in Catholic working class areas had witnessed joyriding in the past 12 months, compared to 10% in the equivalent Protestant areas and less than 1% in the mixed middle class areas. Respondents in Catholics working class areas consistently reported having witnessed more crimes than respondents from other areas.

Reporting crime to the police

• Overall, respondents demonstrated relatively low levels of reporting crime, however, this varied according to type of crime and between communities. In relation to burglaries, 68% of those from Catholic lower working class urban communities who had been burglarised had reported it to the police, compared with 93% of those in Protestant lower working class communities, 97% in mixed middle class areas, 88% and 94% in Catholic and Protestant small towns respectively.
• When asked their reason for not reporting victimisation, 8% of Catholic lower working class urban respondents reported that it was fear or dislike of the police - a response that was absent or minimal in the other communities.
• Every hypothetical victimisation scenario offered to working class Catholic respondents indicated that they would be less likely to call the police compared to respondents from other areas.

Levels of satisfaction with the police

• Levels of satisfaction with the police were lowest amongst respondents from the Catholic lower working class urban communities with 57% stating that they were very satisfied/satisfied with their local police. This compared to 86% of respondents in Protestant lower working class urban communities, 83% in mixed middle class urban areas, and in Catholic and Protestant small towns the figures were 84% and 80% respectively.
• Twenty per cent of respondents in Catholic lower working class urban communities reported being either unsatisfied/very unsatisfied (compared to the next highest of 10% in working class Protestant communities and small Catholic towns).

Personal knowledge of the police

• Seventy-six per cent of respondents from the Protestant small towns knew a police officer 'by sight' and 49% of respondents knew an officer 'to speak to'. Forty-three per cent of respondents from the Catholic small towns either knew a police officer 'by sight' or 'to speak to'. In Catholic lower working class areas, 90% of respondents did not know a police officer 'by sight' or 'to speak to', with only 1% knowing a police officer 'to speak to'.

Fairness of treatment by the police

• Seventy-three per cent of respondents in the lower working class Protestant communities, 74% in the Protestant small towns, 70% in the Catholic small towns and 62% in the mixed middle class areas felt that people were treated 'fairly' or 'very fairly' by the police. Only 36% of respondents in lower working class areas felt similarly. Sixteen per cent of respondents in Catholic lower working class areas felt people were treated 'unfairly' or 'very unfairly', compared to 5.5% in the lower Protestant lower class areas, 2.5% in the mixed middle class areas, 4% in the Catholic small towns and 4.3% in the Protestant small towns.
• Seventy-three per cent of respondents from the Protestant lower working class areas thought the police treated Catholics and Protestants equally, 68.7% of respondents from Protestant small towns, 62.4% of respondents from mixed middle class areas and 50.5% in Catholic small towns felt that this was the case. Only 19% of respondents in the working class Catholic areas felt that Protestants and Catholics were treated equally.

Ranking of police tasks

• 'Responding to and investigating crimes' were ranked as the most important duties across all communities. However, only 41.5% of respondents from the lower working class Catholic areas felt that it was 'very important' for police to patrol in cars, compared with 88.8% of those in the equivalent Protestant areas, 60.9% in mixed middle class areas, 57.5% in Catholic small towns and 76.4% in Protestant small towns. In relation to walking the beat, 39.1% of respondents from the lower working class Catholics areas felt that this was 'very important', compared to 87.5% from the lower working class Protestant areas.

Other organisations that deal with crime in the communities

• Just over 40% of respondents in lower working class Catholic areas, 27.2% from the lower working class Protestant areas, 4.8% from the mixed middle class areas, 1.8% from the small Catholic towns and 2.1% from the small Protestant towns stated that other organisations were involved in dealing with crime in their area.
• Of those who indicated 'yes' to the involvement of other organisations, the majority referred to loyalist or republican paramilitaries, 35.8% in lower working class Catholic areas and 25.8% in the equivalent Protestant areas. The most active groups after paramilitaries in the lower working class Catholic areas were community groups (2.7% of respondents indicated these groups). Groups in other communities either did not exist or were few in number.

Conclusions

• The findings provide strong evidence that NI is neither one united entity nor a society simply divided by religious affiliation. Rather there are wide variations in the perception and experience of crime and the police. For example, the attitudes and life experiences of middle class Protestants and Catholics appear to be different from those of lower working class Protestants and Catholics.
• Respondents from the working class Catholic communities had little personal knowledge of police officers. The problems of police intervention are highlighted further by the reported extent of paramilitary involvement in dealing with crime in these communities.
• Respondents from working class urban Protestant communities had less personal knowledge of police officers than those from Protestant small towns, although the highest satisfaction rates in terms of fair treatment and the performance of the RUC were found amongst this group.
• There was considerable consensus amongst Protestant and Catholic small town respondents regarding their satisfaction with the RUC, fair treatment and police performance.