Confidence, Neighbourhood Policing, and Contact: Drawing Together the Evidence

Public sector reform in the UK has introduced centralized performance frameworks for the police service with indicators and targets based on the public’s satisfaction with the service they receive from the police and their wider perceptions of how well the police are performing their role. This article presents an overview of key empirical evidence that suggests ‘service-oriented’ models of policing—based on visible patrol, community engagement, problem solving, and procedural fairness—are effective in increasing and maintaining public confidence in the police.