Serbia Citizens’ Trust towards Security and Justice Institutions – Western Balkans Security Barometer

The citizens responded that they trust the Serbian Armed Forces more than the police. Public trust in civilian intelligence service known as Bezbednosno-informativna agencija (BIA) is the lowest. When it comes to other security sector institutions, such as the Fire Service, Customs and correctional services, respondents state that they have the most trust in the fire service, then in correctional services – prisons, and the least trust they have in customs.

According to the data obtained from the research, the least corrupt institutions according to the perception of citizens are the Serbian Armed Forces, religious communities, the correctional services and health institutions. On the other hand, the most corrupt institutions according to the respondents are political parties, courts, customs, police, prosecution, national government and municipal administration.

The survey also covered the frequency of citizens’ contacts to key security and justice institutions in the last 12 months. The results of the research show that the citizens had the most frequent contact at the local level, primarily with the municipal administration. Also, a significant frequency of contact was achieved with the police (24.5%) and courts (21.9%). Respondents had the lowest frequency of contact with the Fire service (9.7%) and the Government of the Republic of Serbia (4.7%).

The public opinion poll was conducted by the Sprint agency in the period from October 5 to 15, 2020. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of 1,095 adult respondents from the Republic of Serbia, excluding Kosovo. The research was conducted with the aim of examining the attitudes of Serbian citizens on trust in state institutions and the perception of corruption. The team of 59 interviewers in total conducted field research using the “face to face” technique.