Children from Chantry High School were asked to take part in a Suffolk wide Young Person’s Survey conducted by Suffolk Police Authority and Suffolk Constabulary and every child who filled in the survey was automatically entered into a prize draw to win an Ipod.

Earlier this week on Monday 11th May 2009 an Ipod was awarded to Lesley Ann Bach, the winning pupil at Chantry High School.

36 children from Chantry High School took part in the survey, which was launched in mid-January.

Their results showed that over 95% of children feel very safe or fairly safe in school and over 80% of children feel very safe or fairly safe in the area they live. Over 80% of children rated the police in their area as either excellent, good or fair.

A range of questions were asked from ‘How safe do you feel in the area where you live?’ to ‘Do you know how your local police officer can help you?’ They were also asked if they had been subjected to bullying in the last 12 months.

Sergeant Roger Salmon from Ipswich South West Safer Neighbourhood Team says, "We are pleased that young people have taken the time to respond to the survey and express theirs views of policing in their area. This allows us to focus on specific issues that they are concerned about in Chantry and help to solve or reduce them. It is important for us to understand the opinion of the younger community and this has been achieved through assistance from the school."

Children and young people aged 13 to 18 years old from 38 Upper and High Schools across Suffolk were invited to take part and each school had at least one Ipod to give away. The aims of the survey was increasing engagement with young people, identifying issues that matter to them and providing them with an opportunity to have their say on policing in the area. The information is needed to help improve the service the Constabulary offers and to ensure policing efforts are focused on the things that really matter to young people across the county.

Suffolk Constabulary will be continuing the young person’s survey for 2009/10 and will include questions regarding the level of confidence young people have in the police, as well as questions about feelings of safety and identifying priorities.

All the feedback from the survey will be used to help set the budgets, targets and priorities for the future policing of the county.

The Young Persons survey takes just two minutes to fill in and is available online at either www.suffolk.police.uk or www.suffolkpoliceauthority.org.uk

All residents in Suffolk can give their views on policing by taking part in the ‘Public Survey’, which is also available on the websites listed above.

For more information, please contact the Consultation Unit at Police Headquarters on 01473 613500 or e-mail consultation@suffolk.pnn.police.uk