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  • Apr, 2012

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    Appropriate Police Responses

    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%).

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  • Apr, 2012

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    Most Appropriate Police Response

    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%).

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