Police held in high regard, survey

Otautahi - The vast majority of New Zealanders hold very favourable views of police, according to a survey by 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 survey are positive and says 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 pandemic, O’Brien says.

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

In response to the statement: police are professional when they are conducting their duties, 83 percent either strongly agreed or agreed.

Of the people who had contact with police in the past 12 months, 74 percent were very satisfied or satisfied with the quality of service they received.

The annual NZCVS survey is based on face-to-face interviews with 4000 people randomly selected New Zealanders.

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

Policing in New Zealand is grounded in the principle of policing by consent, the belief that there must be broad public support for a police service’s actions in order for policing to be effective.

In order for police to be trusted, considered legitimate, and worthy of respect, members of the public must be able to see their own values, and priorities within the police’s actions and communications.

The public’s trust and confidence in police is influenced by their perceptions of police effectiveness, how fairly police treat people, the level of positive engagement with communities, the perceived level of crime in their local area, and their belief that police actions are morally justified and appropriate to the circumstances.