Negative Media Stories Affects Trust In Police

The Chair of Hampshire Police Federation has said she’s not surprised by new figures suggesting that only 40% of people in England trust their police force, as the media is publishing so many negative police stories.

The results of the poll were published in the journal Policing and Society, which found that only four out of 10 people in England said they trust the police, with the Metropolitan Police getting the lowest confidence score.

Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said: “I’m not surprised at these figures, because people believe what they read in the media. People will be reading all the negative police stories.

“I think that if you actually spoke to people who know a police officer and hear what it’s actually like for officers, that trust figure would go up.

“I can also completely understand why some young women don’t have trust in the police after what has happened in the Met, and it’s going to take a long time to repair the damage that did to policing. But I think what’s mainly responsible for this is the constant negative media stories.”