Almost 90 per cent of people in Northern Ireland have confidence in the PSNI, according to a report published today.
The Northern Ireland Policing Board unveiled results of its latest survey on public perceptions of the service delivered by the PSNI, the board and District Policing Partnerships (DPPs).
Slightly over two-thirds (68 per cent) believe the PSNI is doing a very good or fairly good job in the North as a whole.
According to the survey, 86 per cent of respondents have some, a lot or total confidence in the PSNI’s ability to provide a day-to-day policing service, exceeding the target of 84 per cent set by the board in its latest policing plan.
The study found 93 per cent of people feel either very safe or fairly safe in their local community, up from 85 per cent in the April study.
“The survey findings show that just over three-fifths of those questioned felt that the PSNI does a very or fairly good job of policing their local area," board chairman Sir Desmond Rea added.
“Whilst these figures evidence overall confidence in the policing service there is still work to be done at community level and increasing the levels of awareness of neighbourhood teams.”
Seventy per cent were very or fairly satisfied the PSNI treated people fairly, yet only 56 per cent of those surveyed were prepared to contact their local DPP regarding local policing issues.
Mr Rea said it was hoped there would be increased engagement between DPPs and local people “now that the DPPs are fully representative of the community”.
Findings relating to the Policing Board found that 72 per cent of respondents who had heard of the board thought it was independent of the police, but just 30 per cent thought that it did well or very well in consulting the public on policing issues.
A total of 1,956 randomly selected households across the North were used for the survey, which was done between September 1st and 30th, with 1,213 persons aged 16 or over interviewed.
