Discontent with Hong Kong police hits new high, poll finds

The gap between the proportion of people satisfied with the police force and those dissatisfied with it is at its narrowest since the handover, a University of Hong Kong poll shows.

Fifty per cent of people polled from May 29 to June 2 were satisfied with the force, down 6 percentage points from the previous survey, conducted in November.

By comparison, dissatisfaction rose from 19 per cent - before last year's Occupy protests - to 27 per cent in November and then 29 per cent this time.

"The Hong Kong Police Force has registered 21 percentage points [in net satisfaction rate], which is at a record low since July 1997," Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the HKU public opinion programme, said yesterday.

One activist attributed the new low to multiple confrontations between officers and the public during the 79-day Occupy movement and the way they handled detainees, especially those with mental issues.

"Their use of force against protesters and their treatment of arrestees have sparked lots of controversy," Icarus Wong Ho-yin, of Civil Rights Observer, said.