Public trust in An Garda Síochána still high despite scandals

However, approximately one in three people believe that community relations with police are poor.

Public trust in An Garda Síochána still high despite scandals

Public trust in An Garda Síochána remains high despite recent scandals, but one in 10 people now have a low level of trust in the force.

That's according to the latest Garda Public Attitudes survey for the last three months of 2018.

It found that 89% of the public has a mid-to-high level of trust in the service.

However, approximately one in three people believe that community relations with police are poor.

Furthermore, 40% agreed that police are not dealing with the things that matter to people in the community.

The survey found the victimisation rate (those who were victims of crime) was 4.5% - the lowest since the first quarter of 2015.

This compares with a rate of 6.2% for the corresponding period in 2017.

A total of 16% of those surveyed said they considered crime in their local area to be a very serious or serious problem, the lowest level since the first three months in 2015.

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents perceived national crime to be a very serious or serious problem.

Gardaí said that this divergent perception of the seriousness of local and national crime has been a result across multiple quarterly public attitudes surveys.

Some 63% said that fear of crime has no impact on their quality of life, an increase of 3% between the last two surveys.

While the vast majority of respondents believe Gardaí would treat people with respect if they had contact with them for any reason, there has been a decrease in the perception that the organisation treats everyone fairly, regardless of who they are, over recent surveys.

Deputy Commissioner Policing & Security, John Twomey said the survey highlighted many positive aspects of the public's interaction with the Gardaí.

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