9.9.1 In addition to measuring actual crime levels the BCS also explores attitudinal measures such as public perceptions of changing crime levels, perceptions of anti-social behaviour, confidence in the criminal justice system and victim and witness satisfaction with the police.
9.9.2 In the South West region in 2009/10 the proportion of people (10%) perceiving there to be high levels of anti-social behaviour (ASB) was statistically significantly lower than the average for England and Wales (14%). Perceptions of high levels of ASB were also statistically significantly lower than the England and Wales average in Dorset (10%), Devon and Cornwall (9%), Gloucestershire (8%) and Wiltshire (8%). The proportion in Avon & Somerset (12%) was not statistically significantly different from the England and Wales average.
9.9.3 One of the components of these scores of perceived ASB is the perception of ‘drunk or rowdy behaviour’. In the South West, 20% of people perceived this to be a very or fairly big problem in 2009/10 BCS interviews. This was
statistically significantly lower than England and Wales overall (24%). The force areas of Avon and Somerset (20%), Gloucestershire (16%) and Wiltshire (18%) were all statistically significantly lower than England and Wales as a whole. The Dorset (22%) and Devon & Cornwall (20%) force areas were not statistically significantly different from the England and Wales average.
9.9.4 Analysis of national trends reveals that perceptions of anti-social behaviour are related to a variety of household and area characteristics. For example, according to the 2009/10 BCS, in England and Wales as a whole only 6% of respondents from the least deprived areas perceived there to be high levels of anti-social behaviour compared to 28% of those in the most deprived areas. Although the South West has a much smaller proportion of people living in deprived areas than the England average, with only around 3.5% of the ‘Lower Super Output Areas’ in the region being among the 10% most deprived in England, there are still around 179,000 people living in these areas. Many of the areas of greatest deprivation are concentrated in some of the South West’s major urban centres (for example Bristol) which also represent the areas with the highest crime levels in the region.
Figure 9.9.1 Proportion perceiving high levels of Anti-Social Behaviour overall, and
proportion perceiving problem with two ASB components, in the South West and
England and Wales 2009/10, percentages
