Find us on Facebook
Follow us on TwitterLynchburg Police Department conducting survey
The Lynchburg Police Department is looking for information — not on a particular crime but on how well the community thinks the department is performing.
An online survey has been developed as part of the department’s national reaccreditation standards. The survey asks residents who have had interaction with the police department, whether as a victim or witness to a crime, through crime prevention programs or traffic stops, to rate how police officers handled that interaction.
Questions relate to the level of competence and professionalism exhibited by the officers, their courtesy, attitude and appearance. There are spaces to write in specific concerns if a resident is unhappy with how their interaction with the police department turned out.
Some questions relate to how safe residents feel their neighborhoods are.
There’s also a block for comments or suggestions. Faircloth said some good ideas have come from citizens writing in that block on previous surveys.
“You can answer as little or as much as you want,” said Lt. Alan Faircloth, of the Lynchburg Police Department.
“This is based on real contact with police. How did you feel when you had contact with the police? … How did we do?”
The survey is available through the end of October. The surveys are anonymous and data from them will be compiled into a report shared with police Chief Parks Snead.
Conducting a citizen survey is one of the standards of national accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, known as CALEA.
“We have hundreds of standards to comply with,” Faircloth said.
“One is to have a documented survey at least every three years.”
The police department has been accredited since 1989 and must undergo examination every three years to maintain that accreditation.
The next reassessment is scheduled for summer 2011.
CALEA’s goals in accreditation are to strengthen crime prevention and control capabilities; establish fair and nondiscriminatory practices; improve service delivery; solidify interagency cooperation and coordination; and increase community and staff confidence in the agency.
As of last year, fewer than 700 law enforcement agencies in the country were accredited, according to the Lynchburg Police Department’s Web site. The police department is one of about 24 agencies in Virginia to receive national accreditation.
The survey can be found at http://www.lynchburgva.gov/index.aspx?recordid=42&page=90.
For more information, contact Chris Tarbell at (434) 455-6070.
Reader Reactions
All survey results will be forwarded to Kimball Payne who will personally call you to berate and belittle you. Bring a tape recorder.
I commend the LPD for requesting feedback. Unless one has been living under a rock, even the poorest of families have Internet access or availability to the Internet. I suspect they could hand out a survey with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to every one of the hundreds of people they interact with every week - not a very good use of taxpayer dollars. How many do you think would actually respond? Maybe they could appoint employees to go back and find all these people and personally interview each one? I’m sure the drug dealers and crooks will be glad to complete a survey. Don’t think so. Those that have significant issues with the agency will make their opinions known by way of complaints. I suggest you go the LPD website and read about accreditation through CALEA. There are over 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the US and less than 750 are nationally accredited through CALEA. According to their web site, they have a full-time Lieutenant whose primary function is to make sure the agency meets the hundreds of standards set by CALEA. Keep up the good work LPD for an often under appreciated job.
While this is a positive step by the Lynchburg City Police Department, the use of an online survey to collect information about the public’s perception of how well the local Police are doing will be significantly skewed. It is less likely that those who have come in contact with the police, over the last few months to a year, will even know about the survey or have access to a computer to take the survey. Good idea but a very bad method for collecting data to determine the perception of those that have come in contact with local law enforcement. This survey will not give a true and accruate picture of what they are trying to do. Then again, maybe the will get the results they want for their “Accreditation”.
Advertisement