Publication of Garda Public Attitudes Survey 2008 Full details of the 2008 Garda Public Attitudes Survey have been published on the Garda website on the 13/10/08.
Publication of Garda Public Attitudes Survey 2008 Full details of the 2008 Garda Public Attitudes Survey have been published on the Garda website today.
The survey which focuses on satisfaction with Garda service as well as policing priorities and experiences and fear of crime was carried out between January and April of this year and involved interviews with 10,000 people. The Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy in welcoming the survey commented: “I am pleased that overall satisfaction with An Garda Síochána remains very strong at 81% and that satisfaction with Garda contact was found to be 79%. It is important that individuals who seek our help and assistance receive a quality and professional service. At the core of that service must be our ability to deal effectively with members of the public. While these survey findings provide some reassurance that this is happening on a daily basis, there is no room for complacency and surveys such as this guide and inform us as we strive to provide an even better service into the future. To that end, we will continue to build strong links with the communities we police and work with them in partnership to find solutions to their problems and ensure a safe and secure local environment for everyone.”
The main survey findings include: Satisfaction with overall Garda service to the community was 81 per cent, the same as in 2007. Rates ranged from 71 to 89 per cent within Garda divisions. Crime victimisation rates were similar to most previous years, with 9.2 per cent saying they or a member of their household had been a victim of a crime in 2007 (down by 0.6 of a percentage point compared with last year). The most prevalent crimes were domestic burglary, criminal damage to vehicle, physical assault, criminal damage to home or other property and theft from vehicle. Crime reporting: 84 per cent of those victimised said that they reported the most recent crime to the Gardaí which is 3 per cent lower than 2007. Some 44% expressed satisfaction with being kept informed of progress in the investigation.
Contact with the Gardaí: Some 44 per cent of respondents said they had contact with gardaí in 2007. Service quality aspects such as speed of service, speed of answering telephone call, identification of station, Garda helpfulness, competence, sensitivity, politeness and interest were broadly on a par with previous surveys. Satisfaction with overall contact with the Gardaí was 79 per cent. Seventy-two per cent of respondents felt that the Garda service needed to be improved. The most frequent suggestions were for greater manpower, more foot patrols, more contact with the community and longer station opening hours. Garda approachability: 91 per cent of respondents described Gardaí at their local station as either ‘very approachable’ or ‘approachable’ (excluding ‘don’t know’ responses). Unacceptable behaviour: 8 per cent of respondents said that a member of the Garda Síochána had, at some time, acted in an unacceptable way towards them. This rate is similar to that in 2007. The most frequent type of unacceptable behaviour was that a Garda had been ‘disrespectful or impolite’. Garda visibility: 53 per cent reported seeing a Garda in their locality in the previous week. Sixty-five per cent of respondents were satisfied with the level of Garda visibility in their locality (62% in 2007). Ratings for how good a job the Gardaí do in the locality were at 82 per cent, the same as in 2007. Satisfaction rates were lower among local authority tenants compared with other housing tenure categories.
Respondents were asked about their policing priorities and their perceptions of Garda priorities. The public’s top priorities were, in rank order: enforcing drug laws, ensuring an immediate emergency response, targeting of organised crime, investigating crime, dealing with crimes of sexual violence and dealing with youths racing around in cars. The perceived Garda priority ranking was generally different from respondents’ own ranking. The more significant mismatches arose in respect to the sale of alcohol to those under age, youths racing around in cars, underage drinking on the streets (to which the public attached a higher priority than they perceive the Gardaí do), and State security, enforcement of traffic laws and immigration (to which the public attached a lower significance than they perceive the Gardaí do).
Note that, regardless of rank positioning, the public attached higher levels of priority to all activities than they perceived the Gardaí do. Responses about the relationship between the Gardaí and the community showed, among other things, high degrees of confidence that anyone in Garda custody would have their rights fully respected, that the Gardaí would help if a person’s rights were infringed and that the Gardaí carry out their role in a fair and impartial manner.
Methodology - The survey was carried out by Millward Brown IMS by means of in-home, face-to-face interviews. Interviewing took place between 9 January 2008 and 26 April 2008. Respondents were selected according to quotas based on age, gender and social class. Results were subsequently weighted to ensure a match with national populations. The sampling methodology is biased towards the settled community and is likely to under-represent certain hard-to-reach groups. Respondents to the survey were aged 18 years or over.
The survey findings are presented as point estimates and the true population figures are likely to lie within a margin of ±1% of the point estimate at the national level and ±4.9% at the divisional level. Wider margins apply in comparisons between years, between divisions and for smaller sub-groups within the sample.
The full survey is available on the Garda website. Previous surveys are also available on the website in the Publications section.
Garda Press Office
13th Oct 2008
