FSD2838 Police Barometer 2012
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Study title
Police Barometer 2012
Dataset ID Number
FSD2838
Persistent identifier
urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2838Data Type
Quantitative
Authors
- Ministry of the Interior. Police Department
Abstract
The survey studied 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.
First, the respondents were asked how important certain bodies (e.g. the Church, the Customs, schools, the Defence Forces) were to crime prevention and to improving the safety of their neighbourhood. Opinions on the extent to which the police force can prevent civil disorder and maintain safety were charted as well as whether the respondents had experiences of international crime.
The respondents were asked how important certain things were in terms of maintaining public order and safety by the police, for instance, that the employment situation would improve, people suffering from substance abuse would receive treatment, prostitution would be prohibited and that the police would adopt zero-tolerance towards law-breaking. Views were probed on which tasks of the police were important. One theme examined the ways and means of improving road safety.
Sense of security and fear of crime were studied by asking how worried the respondents were about certain things (e.g. assaults, housebreaking, drink driving, sexual harassment, Internet data security). Some questions focused on how safe the respondents felt at home during the day, in the city centre after dark, in their neighbourhood late at night, etc. The respondents were asked whether they themselves had become victims of certain crimes, whether they had notified the police, and if not, why. Further questions surveyed whether the respondents had been eyewitnesses to any crimes (e.g. stealing 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. In addition, measures taken by the respondents to reduce the risk of crime (e.g. use of burglar alarms or avoidance of city centre after dark) were charted.
Opinions on the accessibility and visibility of the police were examined by asking what the distance was from their home to the nearest police station, and whether the respondents had used the online services of the police. The quality of police services were 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 the police, emergency and protective services, private security guards, the Border Guard, the Customs, and the Defence Forces. Opinions on the likelihood of police corruption were surveyed. In conclusion, the respondents were asked how long they had lived in their municipality of residence, how often they travelled abroad, and how often they spent time in the population centre of their municipality in the evening or at night.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age group, economic activity and occupational status, level of education, mother tongue, Internet use, household composition, ages of children living in the household, number of persons living in the household, gross annual household income, type of neighbourhood, and municipality and region (NUTS3) of residence.
Keywords
crime and security; evaluation; fear of crime; law enforcement; offences; personal safety; police services; police-community relationship; road safety; trust; witnesses
Topic Classification
- Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
- Crime and law enforcement (CESSDA Topic Classification)
Series
Police BarometersDistributor
Finnish Social Science Data Archive
Access
The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.
Data Collector
- ISS-otantatutkimus
Data Producers
- Ministry of the Interior. Police Department
Time Period Covered
2012
Collection Dates
2012-10-28 – 2012-11-30
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis/Observation Unit Type
Individual
Universe
People aged 15-79 living in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands, as well as policemen/women, their families, and their close relatives)
Time Method
Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section
Sampling Procedure
Non-probability: Quota
Quota sampling based on the age, gender, region, and municipality size distributions of the target population. 1,018 persons were interviewed.
The ranges of municipality size used were: A town/municipality with under 30,000 inhabitants, a town/municipality with 30,000 - 100,000 inhabitants and a town/municipality with over 100,000 inhabitants. Interviews were conducted in 80 municipalities.
Collection Mode
Face-to-face interview
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: English and Finnish.
FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.
Number of Cases and Variables
305 variables and 1018 cases.
Data Version
2.0
Completeness of Data and Restrictions
To prevent identification, background variable bv3 (municipality of residence) was removed from the data.
Weighting
The data include a weight variable (weight) that weights the sample to correspond to the target population in terms of age, gender, region and municipality size.
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
Ministry of the Interior: Police Barometer 2012 [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-08-10). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2838
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 Publications
Marttila, Juha & Heikura, Pasi & Käyhkö, Esa: Poliisibarometri 2012. Kansalaisten käsitykset poliisin toiminnasta ja sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta (2013). Sisäasiainministeriön julkaisuja 47/2012. Helsinki: Sisäasiainministeriö. Saatavilla: http://www.intermin.fi/julkaisu/472012?docID=39657 [viitattu 4.6.2013].
Vuorensyrjä, Matti & Fagerlund, Monica (2016). Poliisibarometri 2016. Kansalaisten käsitykset poliisin toiminnasta ja sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Sisäministeriö. Sisäinen turvallisuus. Sisäministeriön julkaisu 27/2016. http://www.intermin.fi/julkaisu/272016 [viitattu 10.10.2016]
Vuorensyrjä, Matti & Fagerlund, Monica (2018). Poliisibarometri 2018. Kansalaisten arviot poliisin toiminnasta ja Suomen sisäisen turvallisuuden tilasta. Raportteja 130. Poliisiammattikorkeakoulu, Tampere. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-815-344-6.
Study description in machine readable DDI-C 2.5 format
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