Produced by the CS Research Team - Sam Graves, March 2015. For further information please contact csresearchers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Briefing Note: Summary of Findings from the University of Portsmouth Students' Union (UPSU) Crime and Safety Report 2015 and comparison to Community Safety Survey 2014.
Introduction During the week commencing the 27th January 2015, the University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU) carried out an online self-selecting survey about Crime and Safety issues affecting students and they received 860 responses.1 The survey is attached in Appendix A. The Safer Portsmouth Partnership research team became aware of the survey when I was invited to complete the survey in my capacity as a student. I then approached the UPSU team to obtain the findings. This briefing note provides a summary of the findings and makes some comparisons with previous surveys, in particular, the Community Safety Survey 2014 (CSS 2014). The CSS 2014 was carried out using face to face structured interviews by way of convenience sampling. This means that while broad comparisons can be made, we cannot draw conclusions from slight differences in numbers or percentages. Main Findings How do students mainly travel around at night? Walking or running (80%) was the most common way of getting around, followed by: taxi (34.4%), University bus (18.5%), driving (14.4%) and cycling (11.5%). If students walk or run at night - have they ever felt unsafe? 55.4% answered that yes, they have felt unsafe. This is consistent with previous surveys conducted in Portsmouth. A similar question was asked in the Place Survey 2008 - while it didn't ask if people had EVER felt unsafe, it asked respondents to indicate on a scale how safe or unsafe they felt when outside in their local area at night. The Place survey found that 45% of all respondents felt unsafe at night in their local area, but young people generally felt less safe and 53% of 18-24yr olds reported feeling unsafe. The 2014 Community Safety Survey (CSS 2014) found that Somerstown and Guildhall Square were two of the most commonly avoided areas, and these are the very areas 1
There are 17,000 students on campus
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Produced by the CS Research Team - Sam Graves, March 2015. For further information please contact csresearchers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
that students are most likely to visit at night or walk through to get home as there is a great deal of student accommodation in Central Southsea.  Have students been a victim of crime in the last 12 months? Overall, 22% of students reported being a victim of crime in the last 12 months. This is a concerning finding, but we are aware that the 18-24yr age group is the peak age for being a victim for many types of crime - particularly violent offences. This is likely to be at least partially due to lifestyle factors including: living in shared accommodation which may be less secure, having a number of electronic devices including smart phones / laptops etc. per property, an increased likelihood of being out at night and of being intoxicated and thus vulnerable in the night time economy areas. This survey included anti-social behaviour as a crime, which causes difficulties in interpreting the results because anti-social behaviour is not a crime. Anti-social behaviour was the most commonly reported 'crime' with approximately 8%2 of responding students reporting that they had experienced it. Additionally, respondents were given the option of six crime types to choose from and an 'other' option which means that caution should be taken when comparing the findings with the CSS 2014 survey.3 These limitations aside, the table below sets out the reported experience of students to the UPSU and CSS 2014 surveys: Table 1: Percentage of the sample who experienced crime in the last 12 months Crime Type UPSU 2015 CSS 2014 18-24yrs CSS 2014 all ages Violence 5% 8.5% 3.5% Bike theft 5% 5% 5% Burglary 3.5% 1% 2% Hate Crime 3% Not measured Not measured Sexual Offences 2% 0%4 0.6% Online Crime 2% 5% 2.5%
As you can see from the table above, the proportions of students reporting experiencing crime in the last 12 months is broadly in line with what we would expect to see.
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These figures differ from the UPSU report which presented the percentages as a proportion of those who had been a victim of crime (n189), whereas this report expresses them as a proportion of all respondents to the survey. 3 Because of difference in the methodologies of the two surveys, small percentage differences should not be considered a significant difference. 4 This is likely to be because this survey was administered face to face, and people are less likely to report this type of offence under those circumstances.
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Produced by the CS Research Team - Sam Graves, March 2015. For further information please contact csresearchers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Did students report the crimes to the police? Approximately 60% of students reported crimes they had experienced, this varied slightly depending on the type of offence. Most notably 50% of sexual offences and 40% of antisocial behaviour incidents were reported. The inclusion of anti-social behaviour as a crime will have artificially lowered the proportion who report. Do students know how to report a crime? Just under a third of students would not know how to report a crime, although it should be noted that that this information is available on the University of Portsmouth website which is updated by PC Fairbrother. Are students victims who report crimes satisfied with the outcome? Only just over a quarter of student victims of crime, who reported the incident, were satisfied with the outcome.
Conclusion The UPSU survey found that just over 20% of the respondents to their survey had experienced crime and/or anti-social behaviour. The most common types of crime experienced were violence, bike theft and burglary and this is consistent with current understanding of the issues faced by the student population. While this is a relatively high proportion of students, it is consistent with previous survey findings and 18-24yrs is the peak age for both victims of most types of offence. In the free text box an area commonly mentioned as a safety concern was Somerstown, which is a route used by many students on their way home from both the university buildings (including the library which is now open 24/7) and Guildhall Square which is one of the main night time economy areas for students. This is consistent with findings from the CSS 2014 survey. Students thought that the following items may improve student safety:
Increased police presence and improved lighting in Somerstown - particularly on the path alongside Winston Churchill Avenue and other main routes home. A serious approach to bike theft. More education to students on how to report crime A more welcoming approach for those reporting crime and better responses.
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Produced by the CS Research Team - Sam Graves, March 2015. For further information please contact csresearchers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
Appendix A
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Produced by the CS Research Team - Sam Graves, March 2015. For further information please contact csresearchers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
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