PUBLIC SATISFACTION IN QUEENSLAND POLICE INCREASES

Public satisfaction with policing in Queensland is on the rise, with Police Minister Judy Spence welcoming the results of a national report released today.

Ms Spence said the Report on Government Services 2007 shows complaints against police have decreased from 47 for every 100,000 people, to 39 per 100,000 people.

Ms Spence said the report also shows Queenslanders generally feel safer than their national counterparts, and are less likely to fear crime in their neighbourhood.

“In all categories of perceived safety, whether it is how safe they feel at home, while walking or jogging or on public safety at night, Queensland scored higher than the national average,” Ms Spence said.

“The report showed armed and unarmed robbery offences and property crimes have all dropped – while Queensland achieved the lowest rate of car theft in the nation.

“Queenslanders nominated hoons as the single biggest crime problem in their neighbourhood – rating other types of crimes such as drugs, burglaries graffiti and gangs much lower.”

Ms Spence said the Report on Government Services 2007 was a ‘great score card’ for Queensland police.

“This report shows Queensland police are working hard to reduce crime and increase community safety,” Ms Spence said.

“The report is in line with the Queensland Police Service Annual Statistical Report, which shows crime levels have been dropping since 2000, and stabilised last year.

“It also shows that over the past eight years, the 3000 additional police officers that the Beattie Government has funded – giving Queensland a better police to population ratio than the national average – has enabled us to continue meeting the public’s demand for a safer community.”

The Report on Government Services 2007 for Queensland policing shows:

• Complaints against police dropped from 47 per 100,000 people in 2004-05, to 39 per 100,000 people in 2005-06;
• Satisfaction in the way police deal with public order complaints rose by 9.3%, up from 52% to 61.3%;
• Motor vehicle theft dropped from 320 per 100,000 people to 286 per 100,000, which is far below the national average of 397;
• Armed robbery and unarmed robbery occurred at a rate of 21.5 offences per 100,000 people – again, far lower than the national rates of 30.6 and 52 respectively;

Ms Spence said the report showed there was still room to improve in some categories.

“The report shows there was a 7.3 percent rise in people coming into recent contact with police, and while their satisfaction levels with that police contact rose from 74.2 percent to 81.5 percent, it is slightly lower than the national average at 82.6 percent,” Ms Spence said.

“Similarly, the public opinion of how police treat people fairly and equally rose in Queensland from 62.9 percent to 67.4 percent, it is slightly under the national average of 68 percent.”

Ms Spence said figures relating to Queensland operational police staff rose 0.3 percent from 2004-05 to 79 percent in 2005-06.

“Although lower than the national average of 82.6 percent, the ROGS definition of who qualifies as an operational officer is broader than that used in Queensland, which has resulted in a slightly lower result for Queensland,” Ms Spence said.

“Also, while the report lists Queensland as spending $274 on police services per head of the population, that figure does not reflect money spent on crime prevention and training activities.

”In 2005, the Queensland Police Service changed its reporting methodology, which means the standard outputs that ROGS publishes no longer include the significant training expenditure allocated to the Queensland Police Service.

“The ROGS report also fails to reflect the work or the $26.8M spent by the Department of Communities on crime prevention and community safety in partnership with community organisations, councils, businesses and other government departments.”

Ms Spence said since July 2006 the Queensland Police Service has spent a further $14.5 million to fund the State-wide rollout and expansion of QPRIME, the new police computer system.

A further $4.2 million has also since been spent on the Public Safety Network Project.

“This network will bring together all of the existing data networks of the police and the departments of Justice and Attorney-General, Emergency Services and Corrective Services into a single upgraded network, so that they can exchange information quickly and securely,’ Ms Spence said.

“Together with QPRIME, this technology will help police spend more time on operational duties - and less on paperwork and computer data entry.”

Media contact – Alison Smith 3239 6218