Study title

Police Barometer 2018

Dataset ID Number

FSD3623

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3623

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Vuorensyrjä, Matti (Police University College)
• Fagerlund, Monica (Police University College)

Abstract

The Police Barometer surveys study Finnish public opinion on the role and services of the police, feelings about safety and security, fear of crime, experiences of crime, and trust in the national institutions in crime prevention. The 2018 survey was funded by the Ministry of the Interior.

Initially, respondents assessed the ability of the police to guarantee public order and security in Finland, the importance of various tasks in police work (e.g. solving different types of crime, traffic control, emergency response, police patrol), and the significance of different monitoring methods (e.g. speed limit enforcement, road-side checks) in terms of traffic safety.

Sense of security and fear of crime were studied by asking how worried the respondents were about certain issues (e.g. assaults, burglaries, drunk driving, sexual harassment, cybercrime). Respondents were asked to identify circumstances in which they feel unsafe in if they are alone (e.g. at home during the day, in the town centre after dark after dark, or in a residential area late on Friday and Saturday nights). Views on how serious a problem crime was in the respondents' own neighbourhoods were also examined. The respondents were asked whether they themselves had become victims of certain crimes, whether they had reported the crime to the police, and if not, why. Further questions surveyed whether the respondents had been eyewitnesses to any crimes (e.g. burglaries or car theft) or witnesses/complainants in a criminal procedure, and whether they had experienced a threat or pressure from somebody subjected to a criminal procedure.

Opinions on the accessibility and visibility of the police were examined by asking what the distance was from the respondent's home to the nearest police station, how long they thought it would take for the police to respond to an emergency, and whether the respondents had used the online services of the police. The quality of police services was assessed with questions about the last time the respondents had contacted the police, reasons for doing so, and how they had been treated. The respondents also rated how well the police had succeeded in solving crimes, preventing crime, providing help quickly, etc.

Opinions on the attitude of the police towards people from different ethnic backgrounds were studied. The survey also charted opinions on the development of the services provided by the police as well as trust in various institutions, such as the police, emergency and protective services, private security guards, the Border Guard, courts, the Customs, and the Defence Forces. Opinions on the likelihood of police corruption and the quality of police conduct were surveyed. The respondents were asked what they felt their own duties towards the police were, and whether based on their own experiences they felt that the police had made obvious mistakes in everyday policing. Finally, the respondents were asked how often they followed news from printed and electronic news channels, and they were asked to identify any recent news stories about the police and police activities, or news stories about crimes, security and threats to security that they remembered hearing.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age group, primary position in the labour market, highest level of education attained, mother tongue, gross annual personal income, municipality and region (NUTS2 and NUTS3) of residence, size of municipality, and whether the respondent, someone in their immediate family or a close relative worked for the police.

Keywords

crime and security; crime prevention; crime victims; fear of crime; law enforcement; offences; personal safety; police services; police-community relationship; policing; road safety; transport safety; trust; witnesses

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Crime and law enforcement (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Police Barometers

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Taloustutkimus

Time Period Covered

2018

Collection Dates

2017-11-10 – 2018-01-08

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged 15-79 living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Non-probability: Quota

Respondents were drawn using quota sampling with quotas based on age, gender, region, and municipality size distributions of the target population. The collected data were intended to sufficiently cover each of the 11 police department areas in mainland Finland. If the number of interviews drawn by quota sampling fell below 50 for any one police department area, the material was supplemented by additional interviews. The data were collected in two phases. The data from respondents drawn by quota sampling were collected between 10 and 29 November 2017, and additional interviews were conducted in three police department areas between 13 December 2017 and 8 January 2018. Interviews were conducted in 89 municipalities, of which 52 were cities and 37 other municipalities. Additional interviews were conducted in 14 municipalities, of which 10 were cities and 4 other municipalities. 1,096 individuals were interviewed for the survey. Some respondents in bilingual Finnish and Swedish speaking municipalities were interviewed in Swedish, and some respondents in cities with a population of over 100,000 were interviewed in English.

The sample was weighted to be representative of the target population. The number of unweighted observations was 1,096. The number of weighted observations was 4,298 and the weighted sample represents Finland's population aged 15-79 (approx. 4,298,000 according to Official Statistics of Finland 31 December 2016).

Collection Mode

Face-to-face interview: Computer-assisted (CAPI/CAMI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The data delivered to FSD did not contain the municipality code variable (b7) or responses to open-ended questions.

Weighting

The data include a weight variable that weights the sample to correspond to the target population.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Vuorensyrjä, Matti (Police University College) & Fagerlund, Monica (Police University College): Police Barometer 2018 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2022-03-02). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3623

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Vuorensyrjä, Matti & Fagerlund, Monica (2018). Poliisibarometri 2018. Kansalaisten arviot poliisin toiminnasta ja Suomen sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta. Tampere: Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu. Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun raportteja 130. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-815-344-6

Related Publications

Vuorensyrjä, Matti & Rauta, Jenita (2020). Poliisibarometri 2020. Kansalaisten arviot poliisin toiminnasta ja Suomen sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta. Helsinki: Sisäministeriö. Sisäinen turvallisuus. Sisäministeriön julkaisuja 2020:12. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-324-641-6

Vuorensyrjä, Matti & Fagerlund, Monica (2018). Poliisibarometri 2018. Kansalaisten arviot poliisin toiminnasta ja Suomen sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta. Tampere: Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu. Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun raportteja 130. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-815-344-6

Malinen, Sofia (2022). Julkiset paikat turvattomuuden tunteen keskiössä. Turvattomuuden tunnetta selittävät tekijät Suomessa herkistymisteorian ja haavoittuvuusteorian näkökulmasta. Turun yliopisto. Sosiaalitieteiden laitos. Kandidaatintutkielma.

Vuorensyrjä, Matti, Rauta, Jenita & Kankaanranta Terhi (2023). Todistajien uhkailu rikosprosessissa: merkkejä järjestäytyneestä rikollisuudesta? Teoksessa Vuorensyrjä, M. (toim.), Siniset klassikot. Poliisi- ja kriminologian alan moderneja klassikkotutkimuksia 2 (ss. 116-155). Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun tutkimuksia 47. Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu, Tampere.