First Nations, Métis less likely to trust Regina police: survey

CBC News, Feb 21, 2012

A new survey has revealed that while the majority of people in Regina are satisfied with the city’s police force, First Nations and Métis are far less likely to trust the police.

The study, conducted by the University of Regina justice studies department and released on Tuesday, showed that more than three-quarters of those surveyed ranked the quality of the Regina Police Service as very good to excellent.

A total of 504 people were surveyed over the phone between Aug. 15 and Sept. 1.

Because the number of First Nations and Métis respondents in the random survey was less than their representation in the population, an additional 49 surveys were conducted.

The survey found that most of those who said they were satisfied with Regina’s police services had little to no contact with the police and held a quite contrary opinion to those that had direct contact.

“Respondents who had contact with the police tended to have less overall trust and satisfaction with the RPS, or perceived the RPS less favourably than those who did not,” the survey report stated in part.

The survey also revealed that First Nations and Métis respondents were far more likely to express distrust in the police and dissatisfaction with the treatment they received.

“First Nations and Métis respondents expressed a much lower degree of trust and confidence for all of the five questions asking about issues such as professionalism, integrity and responsiveness to the needs of the respondent‘s ethnic group,” according to the report.

Aboriginal respondents ranked their overall satisfaction with the police service — using a scale of one to five — at 2.14, compared to the general city ranking of 3.94.

Aboriginal respondents were also more likely to report being victimized by police more than the 504 other respondents, with 67.3 per cent reporting victimization as opposed to the 26.6 per cent from the random survey sample.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2012/02/21/sk-police-survey.html