02 April 2012, 020412, drug or alcohol, firearm, gang or mob, mentally ill, Police, police work, policing, Polling, polls
Q. There is a debate in many parts of Australia on the appropriate response of police to a range of situations.
In your opinion which of the following are appropriate responses for police in the following situations? (Version A – asked of half the sample)
|
Appropriate police responses |
|||||||
|
Situation |
Firearm |
Taser |
Capsicum spray |
Baton |
Physical restraint |
Verbal response |
Don’t know |
| Police confronted with an armed individual |
67% |
42% |
30% |
20% |
26% |
23% |
6% |
| Police confronted with a drug (eg ice amphetamines) or alcohol affected individual |
10% |
44% |
47% |
22% |
43% |
26% |
5% |
| Police confronted with a mentally ill individual (eg schizophrenic episode) |
6% |
31% |
39% |
15% |
48% |
34% |
7% |
| Police confronted with a gang or mob |
47% |
44% |
43% |
33% |
32% |
26% |
9% |
A substantial proportion of respondents think that firearms are an appropriate police response when confronted with an armed individual (67%) or confronted with a gang or mob (47%).
Tasers are more likely to be considered appropriate when confronted with a drug or alcohol affected individual (44%), a gang or mob (44%) or an armed individual (42%).
Capsicum spray is more likely to be considered appropriate when confronted with a drug or alcohol affected individual (47%) or a gang or mob (43%).
Physical restraint is thought to be more appropriate to situations where police are confronted with a mentally ill individual (48%) or a drug or alcohol affected individual (43%).
02 April 2012, 020412, drug or alcohol, firearm, gang or mob, mentally ill, Police, police work, policing, Polling, polls
Q. There is a debate in many parts of Australia on the appropriate response of police to a range of situations.
In your opinion which of the following is the most appropriate response for police in the following situations? (Version B – asked of half the sample).
|
Most appropriate police response |
|||||||
|
Situation |
Firearm |
Taser |
Capsicum spray |
Baton |
Physical restraint |
Verbal response |
Don’t know |
| Police confronted with an armed individual |
55% |
25% |
7% |
2% |
2% |
1% |
8% |
| Police confronted with a drug (eg ice amphetamines) or alcohol affected individual |
5% |
37% |
28% |
3% |
18% |
2% |
7% |
| Police confronted with a mentally ill individual (eg schizophrenic episode) |
2% |
24% |
24% |
1% |
31% |
10% |
7% |
| Police confronted with a gang or mob |
39% |
19% |
19% |
8% |
3% |
2% |
9% |
A firearm was considered to be the most appropriate police response when confronted with an armed individual (55%) or a gang or mob (39%).
When confronted with a drug or alcohol affected individual the most appropriate responses were thought to be taser (37%) and capsicum spray (28%).
When confronted with a mentally ill individual the most appropriate responses were thought to be physical restraint (31%), taser (24%) and capsicum spray (24%).