General News
14 September, 2023
Mixed bag in police survey
Horsham police have lost ground year-on-year in the eyes of the public but are still rated substantially higher than their peers across the state. In a survey of residents, the city's police received a lower performance score this year than 12...
Horsham police have lost ground year-on-year in the eyes of the public but are still rated substantially higher than their peers across the state.
In a survey of residents, the city's police received a lower performance score this year than 12 months ago when it came to keeping the community feeling safe.
However, they still fared above-average Victoria-wide and were regarded by four out of every five people as being approachable.
The average confidence rating for the Horsham Police Service Area (PSA) this year is 3.4 - better than the whole-of-Victoria rating of 3.2 but lower than the 3.8 awarded to the area by locals in 2022.
Almost 50 per centof respondents said they felt frightened when in parks or other public areas at night, even though most public sites in Horsham were for residents to use primarily during the day.
Between March 31 and May 7 this year, the second annual Victoria Police Community Sentiment Survey was conducted, giving Victorians the chance to say how safe they felt in their communities and how they would like to interact with police and Protective Service Officers (PSOs) outside of emergencies.
Sixty-one replies related to the Horsham Police Service Area (PSA), from a total of 10,996 responses lodged statewide.
These comments have since been used to inform the development of safety plans and organisational actions for community safety.
The top three safety concerns among Horsham community members were drugs and alcohol, road safety, and safety of property and possessions.
According to the survey, 80 per centof local people said they felt at ease speaking with police or PSOs.
They preferred brief, casual and private interactions with police that did not involve an emergency.
Horsham Police Acting Inspector Matt Haughton said he and his team would try to diffuse the community's worries.
"As a general rule, people feel safer here than the state average, which is really encouraging," Inspector Haughton said.
"We appreciate the community pointing out concerns in relation to drugs and alcohol, which we address with the community and through our safety committee.
"We also share the concerns around road safety.
"Road trauma is higher this year than it has been in previous years and we're working hard to reduce the number of casualties on our roads."