Public satisfaction with gardaí ticks up, research shows

People are reporting improved ratings for how gardaí are responding to local crime, according to a survey.

But they believe that crime locally, and nationally, is getting worse.

The Garda Public Attitudes Survey for Quarter 2 (April-June) 2019 – conducted by Amarach Research – reveals improvements in people's rating of gardaí locally.

• The survey shows:
• 41% said they were aware of garda patrols locally in Q2 2019, compared to 37% in Q2 2018 (although around half of people continue to be unaware of patrols)
• 46% said the garda presence locally was “about right”, compared to 37% in the same period last year
• 28% said community relations with gardaí were poor, down from 31%
• 72% said the police in their local area listened to the concerns of local people, up from 70%
• 29% said police were not dealing with the things that matter to people in the community, down from 36%

Overall satisfaction levels continue to be relatively high, at 75%, while trust also continues to be high, at 89%.

Some 79% said national crime was a serious or very serious problem, compared to 71% in the first quarter of this year. Regarding crime locally, 19% said it was a serious or very serious problem, compared to 16% in the first quarter - again revealing the gulf between views of local versus national crime.

When the figures are compared to a year ago, it reveals a 4% rise in the seriousness of crime nationally and a 3% drop in local crime (it was 22% in Q2 2018).

The figures show an increase in victimisation rates this year, up from 4.4% in Q1 to 5.3% in Q2 – but this is still significantly below the rate of a year ago (7.9%).

Reporting rates by victims to gardaí have dropped in both time periods, from 85% in both Q1 2018 and Q1 2019 to 76% in Q2 2019.

Satisfaction rates among victims in gardaí remained the same, compared to earlier this year (66%), but are up on this time last year (59%). Some 53% said they felt they were given the right amount of information by gardaí (down from 56% earlier this year and 54% this time last year).

The survey found a significant increase in people saying they do not worry about becoming a victim of crime (up from 49% to 55%).

Some 45% said the garda organisation was well managed, up from 34% this year last year, coinciding with the appointment of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.

In addition, 60% said the organisation was effective in tackling crime, compared to 53% a year ago.