Police have worst public image among disciplinary forces: survey

December 09, 2015 15:00

Any significant improvement in the public image of the police force will depend on their performance. Photo: HKEJ

Hong Kong police still hold the worst public image among all of the city’s disciplinary forces, according to a recent poll, although another survey commissioned by the police department itself suggests high public satisfaction.

The satisfaction rate of Hongkongers towards the police stood at 53 percent, according to a semi-annual poll by the Public Opinion Program (POP) of the University of Hong Kong, up 3 points from a similar poll six months ago, Ming Pao Daily reported on Wednesday.

That's still the worst, compared with 89 percent for the Fire Services Department, the highest rating among all disciplinary forces, and 73 percent for the Auxiliary Medical Service, which saw its rate fall 9 points from the previous poll.

POP conducted the poll from late November to early December with 1,039 respondents.

Lawmaker To Kun-sun said the slight improvement in the police image might be due to the fact that antagonism resulting from the Occupy campaign must have subsided after one year, but whether there will be a significant improvement hinges on the police performance in the future.

The poll also found the satisfaction rate for the People's Liberation Army's Hong Kong Garrison was 49 percent, compared with 42 percent six months ago.

Meanwhile, the police department said in the latest edition of its publication OffBeat that its popularity rating remained strong.

A survey conducted by HKU shows that 80 percent of the 1,153 respondents expressed satisfaction with the services they received from the police.

Of the respondents, 30.5 percent said they were “very satisfied” with police services, compared with 25.1 percent in a similar survey conducted in 2011.

Meanwhile, 89.9 percent of 1,002 respondents said they felt safe or very safe during daytime, down from 94.8 percent in 2011. For nighttime, the rate also dropped 1.2 points.

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