REASEARCHERS gathering opinions on behalf of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Angus Macpherson, started a new phase of a large-scale phone survey on Tuesday.

About 2,000 householders across the Wiltshire Police area will be getting a call in the coming weeks. A similar number of people were contacted between October and December last year.

Mr Macpherson said: “The law says I must gather the views of people about the way your area is policed. “The survey will also explore issues such as quality of life and fear of crime.

“The information helps me to commission services from Wiltshire Police and helps senior police officers to understand the needs and priorities of the people they protect.”

The research is being conducted by a company called Information by Design and the questions should take about 15 minutes to answer.

Anyone who receives a call and has concerns about the validity of the caller, can call 101, the non-emergency number for Wiltshire Police, and ask for Ruth McGee on extension 2396.