Thursday, 6 October 2022 - 10:10am |
National News

Survey shows public holds Police in high regard

1 min read

The vast majority of New Zealanders hold very favourable views of Police, according to a survey undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

A series of questions, called the Police Module, was added to the 2021 New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey (NZCVS). They sought to provide an understanding of people¡¯s experiences with, and perceptions of, Police.

Assistant Commissioner Insights and Deployment Bruce O¡¯Brien says the results of the NZCVS Police Module are extremely positive, and a huge tribute to how frontline Police go about supporting their communities.

¡°This survey shows that most of the public have a high level of trust and confidence in Police. And that¡¯s despite it being undertaken during a period when our people had to undertake many different tasks to normal policing roles because of the COVID-19 pandemic,¡± Assistant Commissioner O¡¯Brien says.

To the question which of the following best describes the current level of trust and confidence you have in Police, 74% answered either full or a lot.

¡°What is also really pleasing to see is that the public¡¯s rating of how we police ¨C our professionalism overall and the service we provided when they needed us ¨C is also very high across the board.¡±

In response to the statement: Police are professional when they are conducting their duties, 83% either strongly agreed or agreed. While of the people who had contact with Police in the past 12 months, 74% were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of service they received.

The NZCVS, which is conducted from around November to October each year, is based on face-to-face interviews with randomly selected New Zealanders.

The Police Module was added to the NZCVS in March 2021, and more than 4,000 people were surveyed between then and November.

A full breakdown of results from the 2021 survey is available in the report.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre