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Fewer than one fifth view local crime as ‘serious’ issue
Pic: RollingNews.ie

14 Oct 2020 / policing Print

Fewer than one fifth view local crime as ‘serious’ issue

Fewer than one fifth of Irish people perceive local crime as ‘serious’ or ‘very serious’, according to the 2019 Garda Public Attitudes Survey.

The survey of 6,000 people across 2019 found that 18% of people believed local crime was a ‘serious’ or ‘very serious’ problem.

This is a decrease from 2016 when the figure was 23%.

In addition, 55% of people said they did not worry about becoming a victim of crime. This is an increase from 2017 (48%) and 2018 (49%).

Trust

The victimisation rate decreased from 6% in 2018 to 4.4% in 2019.

Trust in An Garda Síochána has increased from 90% in 2018 with 91% of respondents to the 2019 survey saying they have a medium to high level of trust in the organisation.  

Satisfaction with An Garda Síochána remains at a high level with 80% of respondents satisfied with Garda services to local communities.

The highest level of satisfaction was among 18-24 year olds (83%).

The survey also found that 16 and 17-year-olds are not as concerned about becoming victim of crimes as adults.

A full 90% of 16 and 17-year-olds also felt Gardaí would treat individuals with respect, and the same amount said Gardaí were "friendly and helpful”.

Priority  

And 97% of all respondents were of the opinion that sexual offences should be the top policing priority for An Garda Síochána. This was the case regardless of gender, age, social class or nationality.

The only group where this differed was victims of crime, who ranked ‘illegal weapons’ as their top priority. 

Human trafficking, illegal weapons and robbery featured highly across all demographics in terms of priorities for An Garda Síochána. 

Deputy Commissioner Policing and Security, John Twomey, said: "As An Garda Síochána is focused on keeping people safe, it is very welcome to see there were fewer people concerned about crime and a decrease in the victimisation rate last year. 

Hard work

"This is also reflected in the strong trust in and satisfaction with the service we provide to communities. This is a testament to the hard work and effort by Garda personnel on a daily basis.

"The benefit of our approach of policing by consent and in partnership with communities can also be seen in that the public strongly believes we would treat them and others fairly and with respect.”

Gazette Desk
Gazette.ie is the daily legal news site of the Law Society of Ireland