Research on the sense of security of local communities. Preliminary conclusions of the empirical part of the research project

Abstract

The subject of this article is the preliminary results of the empirical research conducted as part of the scientific project entitled Research on the sense of security of local communities in Polish cities of 250.000 to 500.000 inhabitants. The empirical research involved 2450 respondents from the cities of Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, and Szczecin. The aim of the research was to identify the locations of threats and to determine the level of the sense of safety among the respondents who make up the local communities in the cities surveyed. The respondents from the six local communities feel relatively safe in their cities. However, hooliganism and traffic violations in particular are a source of concern. Depending on the specifics of the city, there may be other local threats. The respondents from the surveyed cities most often do not feel safe at train stations and stops, as well as in and around liquor stores. The safest places, according to the respondents, were universities and schools, as well as shopping malls. According to the authors, the policy of creating a sense of safety in cities should take into account numerous determinants of threats and objective safety. The information policy, which influences the opinion of the local population about the threats, is also important.