Perceptions of Public Safety in the Auckland CBD

Earlier this year, the Institute of Public Policy at AUT University carried out a customer satisfaction survey for the Auckland City District Police. One of the aims of the survey was to examine perceptions of public safety in the Auckland city's central business district (CBD). In particular the survey investigated (1) public use of the CBD; (2) people's perceptions of public safety within the CBD; and (3) whether people's views on safety within that area had changed over the last five years.
 
In this article, Casey and Crothers firstly review the research which has been undertaken on behalf of Auckland City and which has addressed the issue of public safety in the CBD. They also examine the strategies council has developed which may have a bearing on the issue of CBD safety.
 
The authors then discuss the findings of the Auckland City District Police customer satisfaction survey 2005 which canvassed the usage and perceptions of safety in the Auckland CBD among three discrete population samples:- 820 random householders; 209 senior college students and 117 international tertiary students.
 
Finally, the authors discuss the implications of the survey results for the various joint police/council initiatives to improve CBD safety and make a number of suggestions for actions which might impact positively on future perceptions of safety in the Auckland CBD.