Four in 10 crime victims ‘dissatisfied with Garda response’

Four in 10 crime victims who reported offences to the Garda were dissatisfied with the force’s response, though 57 per cent were satisfied, according to a new public attitudes survey.

Broadly speaking, the results suggest most people are satisfied with the performance of the Garda, though significant numbers have expressed dissatisfaction.

For example, while 61 per cent believed the force was “community focussed”, one third of respondents disagreed with that proposition.

And while 59 per cent believed the Garda was modern and progressive and 57 per cent believed the force was “effective in tackling crime”, one third of respondents disagreed with both propositions.

“Generally, victims of crime had lower levels of agreement than those who had not been victims of crime,” the Garda’s analysis of its own survey says.

“The most significant differences in levels of agreement were around being community focused and effective in tackling crime.”

When questioned about crime in their local area, far fewer people believed it was as problematic as the national situation, suggesting the public’s perception or fear of crime was out of step with the reality where they lived.

Of those who responded to the survey, 31 per cent said they believed crime nationally was a very serious problem, 45 per cent said it was a serious problem, 19 per cent believe it was something of a problem and 2 per cent stated it was not a problem.

However, when asked about the how they regarded the crime situation in their own areas, just 7 per cent regarded it as a very serious problem, 24 per cent a serious problem, 46 per cent something of a problem and 21 per cent stated that it was not a problem.

The survey was conducted last year and involved 6,000 respondents. The results were published on Thursday at the request of the Policing Authority.

In a strongly worded statement last month, the authority said the research had been relied on frequently by senior officers when they were being asked questions by its members and so should be made public.

Of the 6,000 respondents, 11 per cent said they had been victims of crime in the previous 12 months.

Some 25 per cent of respondents had been burgled, 19 per cent had fallen victim to criminal damage, 9 per cent had been assaulted, 9 per cent had had a bike stolen and 8 per cent had fallen victim to other forms of theft.

Of those who had been victims of crime, 26 per cent said they had not reported it to the Garda.

“The key reasons for not reporting a crime were that respondents believed that the gardaí could not do anything, that they would not do anything or that the incident was not serious enough to report,” the survey says.

And when victims of crime who reported the offences to the Garda were asked to describe the force’s handling of their complaint, 57 per cent said they were satisfied and 41 per cent were dissatisfied.

Only one third of victims who reported the crimes could recall receiving a crime number for the offence they recorded or information about victims’ help lines or other services.

Other key figures from the survey included:

- 70 per cent of respondents were satisfied with the service provided in their local community and 23 per cent dissatisfied.

- Respondents were more likely to prioritise the Garda focusing on crimes against the person - sexual offences, weapons offences, assaults and others - than crimes against property.

- 81 per cent of respondents agreed with the proposition put to them that Garda members were “friendly and helpful”.