Survey shows many young people have little faith in Gardaí

A SAMPLE study has shown that some young people are not satisfied with the role of the Gardaí in their community and in some cases failed to report crimes including assaults because they felt the force could not help.

The study, based on the Garda Public Attitudes Survey 2008 which canvassed the views of 10,000 adults, focuses on young people at various schools and Youthreach in north Dublin. Some 103 surveys were completed in a disadvantaged school, a community school, a voluntary secondary school, and a Youthreach, with participants aged 15 to 19.

To the statement ‘young people are treated better by Gardaí than adults’, 83% disagreed, while 23% agreed that ‘Gardaí provide good leadership in the guidance and direction of our young people’.

Other areas where people strongly disagreed with statements included that it was easy to have a matter corrected when people are dissatisfied with Garda action (70%) and that people have a real say in deciding what is important for Gardaí to do (66%).

More than half believed the Gardaí serve the interests of the rich more than the poor, while 37% said Gardaí discriminated against immigrants – 24% disagreed while 36% said neither.

Of those who took part, 85% said they had had contact with the Gardaí in the past year, with 77% Garda-initiated, against 51% self-initiated, mostly the signing of passport forms.

One-in-five had been the victim of a crime, which was assault in 58% of crime they suffered, though just 37% reported it, with those not going to Gardaí claiming they did not think the Gardaí could do anything, or did not want Garda involvement.

More than 60% said Gardaí had behaved unacceptably, with disrespect and being stopped and searched for no reason the main factors cited, followed by wrongful accusations and swearing.

Almost 16% said Gardaí had behaved “in a violent way. The survey found: The 2008 Garda Public Attitudes survey found 81% of adults surveyed were satisfied with the Gardaí. However, international research has shown young people generally have less positive attitudes to the police than adults.

It adds: “Attitudes of young people toward Gardaí can be formed and changed by the behaviour of Gardaí toward individual young people as well as the shared views and experiences of parents or peers. This study is an insight into the attitudes and experiences of a relatively small group of young people in Ireland towards the nation’s police force, which have been previously ignored.”

The findings come from a dissertation written for Dublin Institute of Technology by criminologist Niamh Feeney, parts of which are due to be published in a journal shortly. Recommendations include increased community activity between gardaí and children, an evaluation of reasons for stop and move-ons, and a change in tone from Gardaí when dealing with young people.

* Report: http://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001& context=aaschssldis