Professor Jackie Hodgson and Dr Kevin Hearty (Law School), along with Associate Professor Kim Wade and Professor Neil Stewart (Psychology), have secured £20,000 from the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account to collaborate with West Mercia and Warwickshire Police.

The funded project: “We don’t buy crime” will develop and evaluate the impact of Smartwater technology and other preventive interventions on public confidence in, and satisfaction with, the policing of burglary. The research is carried out through the Centre for Operational Police Research (COPR) and will survey residents across several towns, asking them about their views on crime and policing in their local area. Follow up surveys and focus group interviews will be carried out at three and six month intervals to try to gauge whether different police interventions have had an impact on the public’s confidence in policing and in particular, the level of satisfaction in policing shown by victims of burglary. The police will draw on the findings of the research to inform their future strategy on effective burglary intervention.

There is national interest in smart water technology and other forces, such as the Met, have claimed that Smartwater has helped to reduce rate of burglary. However, rather than relying only on local crime figures, West Mercia and Warwickshire police have approached COPR to provide an independent, academic evaluation of the impact of this and other initiatives on public confidence in, and victim satisfaction with, the policing of burglary.