The majority of Queenslanders continue to have confidence in the integrity of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) but a high proportion of young people are consistently dissatisfied with police, according to two Crime and Misconduct Commission reports released today.
The reports – Public perceptions of the Queensland Police Service: findings from the 2008 public attitudes survey and Interactions between police and young people – have been prepared as part of the CMC’s function of monitoring the QPS.
The 2008 public attitudes survey identifies trends in public perceptions over the past 17 years and highlights areas of concern that might need more attention by the QPS before they become problematic.
Across the seven surveys that the CMC has conducted since 1991, the majority of respondents believed that most police were honest, despite a significant decrease in public confidence between 1995 and 1999. In 2008 almost 90 per cent of those surveyed believed police were honest and generally had a good image in Queensland.
While a considerable proportion of respondents reported having had a negative experience with police (27%), most concerns raised about those occasions were not related to official misconduct. Instead the majority of concerns were service-related such as an officer acting in an unfriendly manner or behaving unfairly.
For the first time, the 2008 survey allowed the CMC to compare the perceptions and experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Queenslanders. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander respondents were four times more likely to report having had a negative experience with a police officer in the preceding 12 months.
Indigenous respondents also reported having less confidence that a complaint against an officer would be properly investigated. The CMC has since begun a review of Indigenous complaints against police to find ways of improving its complaints handling processes.
The previous 2005 survey detected some regional differences in attitudes towards police, with respondents in Far North Queensland having more negative views than those from other areas. The most recent survey results show that these differences have now disappeared.
The CMC’s public attitude surveys have consistently found that young people are more likely to report dissatisfaction with police than older people. Despite a significant decline in the number of young people reporting recent dissatisfaction with police in 2005, the 2008 survey results suggest that this finding has now been reversed, again highlighting the need for attention in this area.
Negative perceptions and interactions between young people and police may increase the chances of young people entering the criminal justice system. There may also be broader implications for overall public safety.
The CMC’s second report Interactions between police and young people provides research findings that may be used to inform strategies aimed at improving police-youth interactions.
The research was a collaborative effort between the CMC, the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology. It includes an analysis of complaints against police by young people as well as the results of two school-based intervention programs designed to reduce injury and risk-taking by youths and improve their attitudes towards, and perceptions of, police.
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