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#OpenVicPD | 2021 Community Survey | Does VicPD Use Force And Authority Appropriately?

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Date Published: 25 Jun 2021, Last Updated: 15 May 2025

Date: Friday, June 25th 2021Victoria, BC – We recently released the results of our 2021 VicPD Community Survey. The VicPD Community Survey is an opportunity for us to reach out to the communities of Victoria and Esquimalt to hear from them how we are doing.Conducted in 2014, 2017 and 2020 before moving to an annual process for 2021, the VicPD Community Survey allows us to identify and track trends in the responses.This week, we’re taking a closer look at if respondents feel VicPD uses authority and force appropriately. MethodologyThe VicPD Community Survey is conducted by random, statistically significant sample, as part of our efforts to get as close as possible to an unbiased perspective. Previously, we took an in-depth look at our methodology and why we trust the results.You can review the full results and methodology on our Open VicPD Community Survey Portal. Do people feel VicPD use authority and force appropriately?While an appropriate focus of scrutiny, VicPD officers use force in less than 1% of the interactions they have with the community each year. Each time force is used, officers document the interaction and each use of force is reviewed. Where required by provincial statute, a report is automatically sent to B.C.’s Independent Investigations Office (IIO) for review and investigation if required.Each year we ask VicPD Community Survey respondents to respond to the statement “VicPD uses authority and force appropriately.” They are asked to choose from three options; “agree”, “disagree”, and “undecided”.This year’s results are displayed over an 8-year trend.A video presentation on these findings is available here. AgreeThis year we saw a drop from 2020’s highest-ever measure of 70% to 59%. This is the second highest level of response since 2014.  DisagreeThe disagree level remained unchanged from last year, with 9% of respondents disagreeing with the statement.  UndecidedThis year the number of respondents answering “undecided” increased to 32%. In 2014, “undecided” was the most common response at 53%. This year’s result is the second lowest result for “undecided” responses over the 8-year period.  Our key insightsVicPD Community Survey respondents have less certainty than last year when it comes to knowing if VicPD uses authority and force appropriately. The 11% change is from those responding with “agree” to those responding with “undecided.” Up next | Do respondents feel satisfaction with VicPD?Next week, we’ll look at our final survey question, this time asking if respondents feel satisfied with VicPD. We’ll look at this result overall and for both Victoria and Esquimalt. For the full survey details, including responses to all the questions, methodology and percentage of error visit: https://vicpd.ca/open-vicpd/community-survey/ -30-
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