Loss of faith in police servic

PUBLIC confidence in police services has fallen dramatically across the country, with large drops in the number of people who are satisfied with police integrity, honesty and services.

The Report on Government Services 2006 reveals that nationally, the percentage of people happy with police services has dropped significantly in the past financial year, from 71.8 per cent to 68.9 per cent.

The perception of police honesty has also suffered a blow, with a downward spiral from 75.4per cent to 70.9per cent.

Across the country, fewer people were content with their last contact with police. The number has dropped sharply from 80.4 per cent in 2003-2004 to 74.1 per cent in the last financial year.

The proportion of the population that think police treat people "fairly and equally" has also fallen slightly, from 65.5 per cent to 63.3 per cent.

The survey reveals that, on average, fewer people believe that the police are doing their job professionally.

But the number of complaints against police is on a downward trend in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and ACT.

In Victoria and the Northern Territory, there was a rise in the number of complaints lodged in the past five-year period.

Mark Burgess, chief executive of the Police Federation of Australia, which represents the unions of all the police services in Australia, said the results were disappointing.

Mr Burgess said he had not seen the report, but pointed out that only a section of the community had been surveyed.

"The survey may be taken in the background of other issues involving the police that may be being played out in the media, and the results can be skewed by those issues," Mr Burgess said.

"If the survey was taken one week earlier or one week later there could be very different results. For instance, if the survey was taken during the Cronulla riots there would have been a very different response."

But Mr Burgess said the public mostly believed that police did a good job in difficult and trying circumstances.

The report reveals that real expenditure on community safety and support fell by $2 a person over the past year, from $128 to $126.

The report also shows there were fewer murders per 100,000 people in 2003-04, down 1.6per cent from 2002-2003.

But assault victims had risen to 4700 per 100,000 people in 2002, up from 4300 per 100,000 in 1998.

Victims of robbery also rose, from the 500 victims per 100,000 people recorded in 1998 to 600 per 100,000 people in in 2002.

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Australian - Australia31 January 2006

Loss of faith in police servic

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Australian - Australia
31 January 2006