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 www.lynchburgva.gov/index.aspx?recordid=42&page=90.
For more information, contact Chris Tarbell at (434) 455-6070.
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