Police seeking opinions from public

South Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Police Authority hold an annual "Your Voice Counts" event – and this year, year the survey has been sent to more than 48,000 households to "gather vital information and monitor public perception on neighbourhood policing".

Charles Perryman, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Authority which oversees the work of the force, said: "The survey is a very important indicator of what the public feel they want."

Collating results from each of the county's 23 "safer neighbourhood areas" individually allowed priorities to be set according to the responses, he explained.

Senior officers also revealed that the last three years' survey results had provided increasingly positive feedback about public confidence in how South Yorkshire is policed.

The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, Meredydd Hughes, added: "The police and the police authority are fully committed to community consultation as a means of identifying priorities and improving services."