It's A Fair Cop Say Teenagers
More young people trust the police to tell the truth than almost any other type of public figure. This includes teachers, priests, judges, scientists, politicians and business leaders, according to new Nestlé research conducted by MORI.
More young people trust the police to tell the truth than almost any other type of public figure. This includes teachers, priests, judges, scientists, politicians and business leaders, according to new Nestlé research conducted by MORI.
The conclusion is one of several surprising findings in "Trust in Today's Society", published today by the Nestlé Family Monitor, a series of reports on family life in Britain.
The key findings of the Nestlé research are:
- 76% of young people trust the police to tell the truth and only 7% do not. They are also significantly more likely than adults (64%) to trust the police:
Q For each of the different types of people listed below, would you trust them to tell you the truth or not?
| Young People | Adults | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Would trust | Would not trust | Net trust | Would trust | Would not trust | Net trust | |
| % | % | ±% | % | % | ±% | |
| Doctors | 86 | 4 | +82 | 91 | 6 | +85 |
| Your parents | 82 | 6 | +76 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| The police | 76 | 7 | +69 | 64 | 26 | +38 |
| Judges | 72 | 8 | +64 | 72 | 19 | +53 |
| Scientists | 67 | 8 | +59 | 65 | 22 | +43 |
| Teachers | 70 | 12 | +58 | 87 | 8 | +79 |
| Clergymen / priests | 63 | 10 | +53 | 71 | 20 | +51 |
| Professors | 60 | 8 | +52 | 74 | 11 | +63 |
| Television newsreaders | 45 | 26 | +19 | 66 | 24 | +42 |
| Civil servants | 29 | 19 | +10 | 46 | 41 | +5 |
| Trade union officials | 23 | 19 | +4 | 33 | 53 | -20 |
| Pollsters | 11 | 17 | -6 | 46 | 34 | +12 |
| Government ministers | 27 | 40 | -13 | 20 | 73 | -53 |
| Business leaders | 16 | 39 | -23 | 28 | 60 | -32 |
| Politicians generally | 18 | 42 | -24 | 18 | 75 | -57 |
| Celebrities | 16 | 50 | -34 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| The ordinary man / woman in the street | 12 | 48 | -36 | 53 | 32 | +21 |
| Journalists | 13 | 64 | -51 | 18 | 75 | -57 |
- Two in five young people (42%), say they do not trust politicians to tell them the truth. Scepticism is particularly high among those eligible to vote in the next General Election. Over half of this group (56%) do not trust politicians.
- Judges are trusted by 72% of young people and by a similar percentage of adults, an interesting finding in view of the current tension between the Government and the legal profession.
- More trust doctors (86%), who come top of the trust poll, than even their parents.
- Only 56% of black and minority ethnic young people trust the police to tell the truth compared with three-quarters (79%) of their white counterparts. While just 17% from the ethnic minorities trust a journalist, 42% trust television newscasters. This is may be because ethnic minorities are better represented among this group than many others.
Q For each of the different types of people listed below, would you trust them to tell you the truth or not?
| White | BME | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Would trust | Would not trust | Net trust | Would trust | Would not trust | Net trust | |
| % | % | ±% | % | % | ±% | |
| Doctors | 87 | 4 | +83 | 76 | 2 | +74 |
| The Police | 79 | 6 | +73 | 56 | 11 | +45 |
| Judges | 74 | 8 | +66 | 61 | 11 | +50 |
| Television Newsreaders | 45 | 28 | +17 | 42 | 12 | +30 |
| Government Ministers | 28 | 40 | -12 | 18 | 43 | -25 |
| Journalists | 13 | 66 | -53 | 17 | 50 | -33 |
Source: Nestlé Family Monitor/MORI
- Only 12% trust the 'ordinary man or woman in the street' to tell the truth. This may well be because the young are persistently told not to trust strangers. It is certainly the younger age groups, particularly girls, who are the least trusting.
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service Sir John Stevens described the findings as "reassuring":
"I believe it reflects the Met's philosophy that integrity is non-negotiable. We must never lose sight of the fact that trust is a two way street — it's at the core of policing by consent which is an important part of this nation's democracy."
"I am heartened and reassured by these findings — the views and opinions of young people, the adults of tomorrow, are extremely important and we must continue to ensure a high level of trust between police and all sections of the community."
- Download the full report, pdf, 228KB
Technical details
MORI conducted class room based self-completion sessions with 914 young people between the ages of 11 and 18 in 33 schools and colleges across England and Wales for the Nestlé Family Monitor, between March and May 2003.
