Survey: Public satisfied with Gardaí
The biggest survey of public attitudes towards gardaí has found that more than three-quarters of people are satisfied with the force.
Only one in 10 of respondents said they had been the victim of one crime while 83% said they had reported it to the gardaí.
The Garda Public Attitude Survey was carried out by Millward Brown IMS who interviewed 10,000 people across 25 garda divisions during 2005.
A garda spokesman said: “The survey was carried out as part of our ongoing commitment to provide a quality policing service and to fulfil objectives in our Policing Plan 2005.”
“This survey is the largest and most comprehensive undertaken on behalf of An Garda Siochana and the methodology used included quota sampling and in-home face-to-face interviewing.”
The key findings of the survey, which is available on the www.garda.ie website, were:
:: 83% of respondents indicated that they were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with gardaí in their community.
:: 11.7% of respondents were victims of crime during 2004.
:: 75% of these victim had experienced just one incident while 5% experienced four or more.
:: Burglary was the most common crime at 27%.
:: 83% of crime victims said they had reported it to gardaí
:: 25% of crime victims received a letter from the Gardaí acknowledging the report and indicating the identity of the Garda member dealing with the crime.
:: 68% of recipients of letters indicated that the letter was either ‘very helpful’ or ‘helpful’.
:: 49% of crime victims indicated that they were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the being kept informed of progress in the crime investigation.
