Half of Catholic population 'happy' with PSNI

A new Policing Board survey has revealed that around half of the Catholic population in Northern Ireland think the PSNI "treats everyone equally".

The findings, which are contained in the latest 'Omnibus Survey' on perceptions of the Policing Board and the delivery of policing services in Northern Ireland, also showed that the proportion of Catholic respondents who had at least some confidence in the police to provide a day-to-day service rose from 68% to 70%. This compares to Protestant figure which rose from 79% to 81%.

Welcoming this finding, the Chairman of the Policing Board, Professor Desmond Rea said: “In order to ensure that the whole community has a police service that is effective, efficient and impartial, the Policing Board must undertake regular surveys to find out exactly what the public thinks about the service they are receiving from the PSNI.

“This particular result is a positive indicator of how, 20 months on, policing arrangements are moving forward and being accepted right across the community. Progress has been made and this must continue to be built on."

Other findings in the report reveal that 75% of respondents had some, a lot or total confidence in the police’s ability to provide a day-to-day police service.

Confidence in the police service’s ability to deal with public order situations was up to 76% from 69% in September, and those who had had contact with the PSNI over the past 12 months and were satisfied with the way they had been treated, was also up at 75% from 74% in September..

“The Policing Board must set challenging objectives, performance indicators and targets for the PSNI to ensure effectiveness and efficiency are achieved. The 'Omnibus Survey' is much more than just a snapshot in time of what people think about policing. It is an indicator of success and progress and a pointer to areas where more work is required,” Professor Rea added.

The Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency carries the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey out six times each year.

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