Ihor Klymenko, The Head of the National Police of Ukraine, Police General of the second rank, PhD (Psychology)

 

I would start with the main line: the level of the public trust in the Ukrainian police is 40.8 %. For comparison – in the European countries this indicator ranges from 39 % in Hungary to 94 % in Finland. Of course, we still have a lot of work to do, but we are going in the right direction – if we refresh our memory that the trust in the police in 2014 did not exceed the statistical error.

Now in more detail about this survey and its results.

Why, for what and on what basis does the National Police conduct a sociological survey?

Because the level of the public trust was identified as the main criterion for assessing the effectiveness of the police bodies and units. Actually, it is written in the Law of Ukraine "On the National Police".

To research and determine the level of the trust, a mechanism was developed, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on February 07, 2018 No. 58 "On approval of the Procedure for assessing the level of the public trust in the National Police."

In accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement", the State Institution "Service Centre for Departments of the National Police of Ukraine" initiated a procedure of determining the sociological service and prepared the tender documentation for procurement of the public opinion polling services in assessing the level of the public trust in the National Police through the open tenders.

On October 06, 2020 on the website www.dzo.com.ua the National Police announced the purchase of services. The tender was won by the 4service UA Sales LLC, with which a corresponding agreement was concluded on November 13, 2020.

Methodology, terms, representativeness of the sociological survey

Survey method: structured face-to-face interview at the respondent's place of residence.

Survey geography: the survey was conducted in 24 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv (excluding the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine).

The selection of the survey is 15 thousand respondents, calculated in compliance with the principle of representativeness for the population of Ukraine over 18 years old (excluding the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine). The following age intervals were used in the analysis: 18-29, 30-54 and older than 55 years.

The selection design is based on the distribution of the population aged 18 and over by the regions, types of settlements, sex and age according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine as of January 01, 2020.

General conclusions

1. The highest valuation of the effectiveness of the work for the last year the police received in the Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Donetsk and Poltava regions. The respondents in Zhytomyr, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv regions named a police work as "inefficient".

2. The territorial police units of Kyiv, Chernivtsi, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Ivano-Frankivsk regions are leading in the levels of trust. The lowest level is in Luhansk region, Kyiv city, as well as in Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

3. In general 35 % of Ukrainians valuate the crime rate as "low". In 2020 the number of people who perceive the crime rate in the country as "high" decreased from 21.7 % to 12.8 %. According to the opinion about half of the population (52.5 %) the crime rate in the country is at the "average" level (as in the last year).

4. The list of the main fears of the Ukrainians in 2020 remained unchanged in comparison with 2019.

What we are afraid the most:

• to become a victim of a traffic accident – 37.4 %;

• to become a victim of any crime at all – 22.5 %;

• to become a victim of theft from our own home – 21.7 %.

5. For the last year the number of citizens willing to help the police has increased from 34 % in 2019 to 37.4 % in 2020.

6. The level of politeness and friendliness of the police officers during communication with people have increased almost by 10 % in comparison with 2019. 62.3 % of Ukrainians who contacted with the police officers last year said that they were polite.

7. 1.5 % of the respondents indicated that in 2020 they were intentionally beaten, ill-treated or tortured by the police.

I hope that the introduction of the "Custody Records" video recording system in the police sub-units will remove this issue from the agenda!

8. In general, only 3.8 % of all respondents complained about the police actions.

Dynamics in comparison with 2019

Due to the fact that in 2019 the sociological survey was conducted according to a different method, it is impossible to make a full comparison of the indicators.

Therefore I publish the data on those parameters that can be compared correctly.

1. In 2020 the percentage of those who perceive the crime rate in the country as "high" decreased from 21.7 % to 12.8 %.

2. In comparison with the last year the level of the citizens` satisfaction on how the police responded to their appeals or statements increased from 27 % to 33.4%.

3. The cases of the rude treatment by the police officers almost halved (from 20.2 % to 9.6 %).

The results of the sociological survey will be available on the official website of the National Police of Ukraine in the near future.