Improving performance: Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Peter Yam (centre) and his senior officers discuss the results of the Force's second Customer Satisfaction Survey.

Eighty per cent of people who have had recent contact with Police are 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with its service quality.

These are the findings of the Force's second Customer Satisfaction Survey that was completed in October.

The University of Hong Kong's Poon Kam Kai Institute of Management interviewed 843 people, representing 1,228 contacts with the Force through five main channels: the 999 consoles, Police report rooms, by attending crime investigation offices, by being questioned at the scene of incidents and through telephone calls to Police stations.

The respondents were informants, crime victims or witnesses who had contacted Police frontline officers in the three months before the survey, between July and September.

The Force scored high marks in the Survey. The overall satisfaction rate of services provided at points of Police-public contact rose from 76% in 2000 to 80% in 2002.

Amongst the five channels, the performance of the 999 console was rated the best and attained an overall satisfaction rating of 87%.

Of particular encouragement is the overall 'very satisfied' increase from 8% in 2000 to 20% in 2002.

Another area recording a significant improvement is in the answering service provided at Police stations where the satisfaction rate improved significantly, leaping from 70% in 2000 to 84% in 2002.

"I am very pleased with the results," Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Peter Yam said.

"It gave validation to improvements made by the Force over the past two years. However, we will not become complacent. We will continue to identify improvement opportunities and build upon professionalism in our quest for perfection. I can assure the public that we will continue our best efforts to keep Hong Kong one of the safest and most stable societies in the world and serve the community with pride and care."

Junior Police Officers Association Chairman Lau Kam-wah said the survey findings indicated that "though public demands for Police services were increasingly high, members of the Force could satisfy the public with their high quality of service".