Croatia: Security Perception Study
In the past six years, a continuous increase of armed violence has been recorded in the Republic of Croatia. An increase of young perpetrators, urban violence and domestic violence is noticeable. Croatian population still perceives crime as one of the largest concerns today as well as believing that local communities they live in are less safe compared to 20 years ago. Background for citizen concern can, on one hand, be found in media coverage portraying violence and crime and, on the other hand, in the legacy of warm organized and street crime, where suspicion that they have not disappeared in the last ten years exists. The Ministry of Interior and UNDP/SEESAC have been cooperating on citizen safety and public security projects since year 2006. An outcome of this cooperation in the past three years has been seizure of large amounts of illegal weapons, ammunition and explosive devices, increase of the perception of security among the citizens and an improved communication of the local community and the police.
The Ministry of Interior of Croatia is aware that the public perception of security is an essential starting point for establishing a national perception of security across the country and that the results of the public opinion survey will help the Ministry in developing priorities in the institutionalization, that is sustainability of community policing strategy, as well as indicate where to make changes in general police approach to questions of citizen safety.
The main goals of the survey are to:
- Determine the general perception of safety of the Croatian population in their place of residence
- Determine citizens’ perception on certain groups / occurrences that could represent a problem in their place of residence
- Determine the extent to which Croatian citizens were victims of some type of violence / crime
- Determine the level of (non)cooperation with the police in reporting different events and reasons for it
- Determine citizens’ perception of self-defence (from a physical assault or attack on property) and protection measures they have undertaken
- Determine citizens’ perception of police actions in their place of residence
- Determine citizens’ perception of successfulness of the police work in different areas
- Determine the frequency of contacts between citizens and the police and evaluation of police behaviour in those contacts
- Determine citizens’ level of interest in more frequent contacts with the police
- Determine the frequency of visiting the Web site www.mup.hr and the main reasons for (not)visiting this Web site
- Determine a general level of trust in other people and in certain organizations / institutions
Please click on the respective language version to download the survey: English / Croatian
