Majority satisfied with Gardaí, survey finds

The majority of people are generally satisfied with the service provided by Gardaí, according to the Garda Public Attitudes Survey 2017.

The survey, which was published this week, found that there was a 2% drop in the victimisation rate recorded in 2017 when compared to 2016, and a 5% fall from 2015.

According to respondents to the survey in 2017, 6% said they were victims of crime during the year.

The survey also found that 84% of victims reported their crime incident to An Garda Síochána – up from 75% in 2015. Burglary was the most commonly reported crime in 2016, followed by robbery (from a property) and theft of a car. The most common reason for non-reporting was a belief that Gardaí could not do anything.

Overall, 58% of victims were satisfied with how Gardaí handled their case in 2017, largely the same as last year. More victims felt that sufficient information was provided to them in 2017 (53%) compared to 2016 (48%), and 2015 (46%).

The survey also identified a notable gap between perceptions of crime levels locally and in the country as a whole. While 74% of people said national crime was a serious or very serious problem, 20% said local crime was a serious or very serious problem.

Levels of fear of crime, worry about victimisation and the effect of fear of crime on respondents’ quality of life all decreased between 2016 and 2017.

Between 2016 and 2017, satisfaction with the service provided by An Garda Síochána increased by 5%. Over three quarters of people (76%) were satisfied with the service provided to their local community by An Garda Síochána.

The nationally representative survey contains views of 6,000 people. The survey is conducted quarterly by Amárach Research on behalf of An Garda Síochána with a nationally representative sample of 1,500 people per quarter. The survey measures changes in public sentiment towards An Garda Síochána from 2015 to 2017.