Trust in military, police highest in CzechRep's history

Prague, Sept 26 (CTK) - Some two thirds of Czechs trust the military and police, which is the most since 1993 when the independent Czech Republic was founded, according to a STEM poll conducted in early September that CTK has at its disposal.

The highest number of Czechs (69 percent) trust the military, followed by the state police (60 percent) and local and municipal police (53 percent).

Trust in the military increased by 5 percentage points in the past seven months and trust in the police by 8 percentage points.

Trust in the military is the same like in 2009 while trust in the police is the best ever since 1993.

The poll was conducted from August 29 to September 5, that is still before the methanol poisonings scandal erupted, STEM said.

The first dead was reported on September 6.

Czechs' trurt in international security organisations has long been stable. Some 74 percent of people trust Interpol and NATO is trusted by 54 percent of Czechs.

NATO is viewed positively by supporters of the government coalition parties, the Civic Democrats (ODS) and TOP 09, while support for the Alliance is much lower among followers of the opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and mainly the Communists (KSCM).

Party preferences play a much lower role in trust in Interpol and domestic security institutions.

The poll was conducted on 1205 people over 18.