KUCHING: The state capital is among six cities in the country that have a high confidence level in the police.
Kuching’s trust level is at 80.9%, the second highest behind Penang’s 81.5%.
These are the findings of a survey conducted by Unimas PhD student Datuk John Lau (pic) which was made available to the New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
The other cities which have high confidence in the police to perform their duties effectively are Kota Kinabalu with 68.4%, Petaling Jaya (64.8%), Kuala Lumpur (63.9%) and Johore Baru (62.4%).
The survey was held over a period of four months from August to November last year. Three thousand respondents were randomly selected and interviewed by phone.
“On an average in the six cities studied, members of the public have 70.3% trust in the police service,” the survey revealed.
The survey findings also show that there is a strong statistical relationship between citizens’ trust in the police and eight variables, namely response time, fairness and justice, efficiency, positive outcome from reports lodged, competency in solving crime, easy accessibility, police misbehaviour and neighbourhood safety.
The findings also show that in cities with lower crime index and higher safety index, public trust in the police is higher than in cities with high crime index and lower safety index.
“Public trust in the police has improved as there is no regular complaint against the police service quality,” according to the findings.
Police’s response of between eight and 10 minutes is considered acceptable by the respondents.
“This is an important factor to build trust with members of the public,” the survey findings revealed.
However, public trust in police competency to solve crime cases and getting positive results from reports lodged are two areas which recorded “lower trust” in the police service, the survey revealed.
Lau is also the chairman of the Sarawak Community Policing Association.
