High subjective sense of security
Zurich residents feel safe in their city. They have a high level of trust in the city police and consider the protection provided by the police to be good and adequate. These and other findings were revealed by a population survey.
According to the survey*, the population generally feels safe in the city of Zurich - especially during the day. 97% of respondents feel rather (25%) or very (72%) safe when walking alone in the city. At night, on the other hand, nearly one in five feel unsafe or never travel alone at all for safety reasons. Around half avoid certain places at night for safety reasons. Here, the Langstrasse is mentioned above all.
The share of those who assess their own neighborhood as less safe in comparison with the others is largest in city district 4 (24%). In urban districts 5 (12%), 11 (14%) and 12 (16%) the proportions are slightly higher than in the other districts.
Urgent safety issue: road traffic
The most urgent individual safety problem to be solved by the police is spontaneously named most frequently as road traffic. This result is put into perspective when the answers are grouped thematically. Then problems with certain population groups such as "dealers", "drunks", "young people" or "foreigners" are in the foreground. In second place come large gatherings of people at demonstrations, sporting events or other major events.
92% satisfied with police protection and presence
Almost all respondents consider the protection of the population by the city police as completely (36%) or rather (56%) sufficient. Those 6% who consider the protection rather insufficient (5%) or insufficient (1%) most often justify this with too little presence/patrols. When asked, 62% of the respondents state that the presence of foot patrols is just right, for 29% it is too small. For single vehicle patrols, the presence is just right for 71% of respondents. For 13% it could be more and for 7% less patrols.
Good experience and excellent trust scores
Just under half of all respondents had personal contact with the police in the course of the last five years. The vast majority (83%) of those who have been in contact with the police assess the behavior of the police officers as correct. Every tenth person judges the behavior as only partially correct and every twentieth person is of the opinion that the police did not behave correctly.
Zurich residents generally have a very high level of trust in the city police. On a scale of 1 (very little trust) to 10 (very high trust), they give an average score of 8.1. Among the foreigners surveyed, trust is even higher (8.3) than among the Swiss (8.1).
"The city police are strongly perceived by the population and shape the attitude to life in the city of Zurich with their professional and correct actions. That is a great responsibility. We will continue to do our best so that we can maintain this high level of trust, if not even increase it," says Commander Daniel Blumer.
Appropriate action by the police
While 56% of respondents generally rate police actions as "just right," 13% consider them too inconsistent and 6% consider them too consistent. Each 13% make no or no clear statements. From the public's point of view, the police act too inconsistently, especially during demonstrations, riots at football matches and riots in general. Also very frequently mentioned are too few consistent controls of car drivers and especially of cyclists.
Helpful, competent and friendly
The city police officers are very well received by the population as a whole. More than 80% of the respondents perceive them as rather (53%) or very helpful (35%), rather (57%) or very (28%) competent and rather (55%) or very (29%) friendly. Only a minority ascribes negative characteristics to the police. The most frequently mentioned are rather/very stubborn, intimidating or arrogant.
"The positive perception clearly prevails. However, it is important for a police corps that the population holds a mirror up to it. We will look at the issue of behavior in depth," says the commander.
Violence against the police
The fundamentally positive attitude of the population towards the city police is reflected in the fact that 92% are of the opinion that violence towards police officers should be consistently punished (tend to agree: 28%; fully agree: 64%). Although 58% share the opinion that violence is part of the occupational risk of the police (tend to agree: 44%; fully agree: 14%), only 8% agree with the statement that the police provoke violence through their behavior (tend to agree: 7%; fully agree: 1%).
Video surveillance, body cams and identity checks
The public is relatively open to video surveillance and the use of body cameras. Acceptance depends on the area of application. Respondents can very well imagine the use of body cameras at major events, sporting events and demonstrations. A total of 60% of respondents think it is a good idea for the police to carry out targeted checks on people, even if there is only a slight suspicion (somewhat agree: 34%; strongly agree: 26%). In connection with checks on people, respondents were also asked whether the police treat all people equally. Around one third (i.e. 779 people) of all respondents have the impression that the city police do not treat everyone equally - without judging this. The following groups would be treated differently to some extent according to these 779 people: Young people (8 %), marginalized/drug addicts/criminals (12%), foreigners; migrants; asylum seekers (34%), dark-skinned or foreign-looking people (44%). A more in-depth analysis showed that circumstance tends to have negative connotations. "This result is cause for me to make the Corps even more aware of the principle of "fair and effective policing. If we answer the resulting questions correctly with regard to police checks, the question of ethnic profiling, for example, will no longer even arise," explains the commander.
Optimal adjustment to the needs of the population
The population of the city of Zurich is largely satisfied with its police force. Nevertheless, the city police will be taking a closer look at individual topics over the next few months. This is with the aim of optimally adapting police work to the needs and the sense of security of the population. Press release Zurich City Police
* On behalf of the Zurich City Police, the market and opinion research institute Demoscope conducted a representative population survey this summer. A total of 2282 people aged 15 and over residing in the city of Zurich (foreigners with a C residence permit and Swiss citizens) answered questions about their subjective feeling of safety, their attitude toward and trust in the police, and other topics. The survey could be answered online (proportion: 72%) or by telephone (proportion: 28%).
