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Faith in officers to deal with terrorism has gone up in 'challenging' year.

HMI Matt Parr

Almost three-quarters of the population think the police are effective at responding to emergencies.

Research commissioned by HMICFRS has found that public confidence in the police is high.

Respondents who said they are confident in law enforcement’s ability to protect them from terrorism has risen to 55 per cent, compared to 46 per cent the year before.

In 2017 there were five successful and nine foiled terror plots.

But the number of people who have not seen a police officer in the last year has risen amid another year of austerity.

Some 44 per cent of people say they have not seen a uniformed presence in the last year, compared to 36 per cent the year before.

And only 17 per cent of people feel they have local police in the area they live on a regular basis.

HMI Matt Parr said: “After a year in which the emergency services have faced some of the most challenging incidents in recent times, it is encouraging to see that the public’s confidence in the police to protect them against terrorism has increased markedly, with over half of people saying they are confident in the police response.”

More than 12,000 people across England and Wales took part in the survey.

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