Introduction
Starting a new Citizen Police Academy can be an exciting endeavor for any police department. Bringing community members into the inner workings of the department builds trust, understanding, and relationships between police and residents. However, without proper planning and assessment, these programs can fall short of their goals and even backfire.
That’s why conducting surveys of both your department members and citizens before launching a Citizen Police Academy is crucially important. Surveys help you understand motivations, pinpoint logistical issues, and set proper expectations on both sides. This prevents frustration and disappointment down the road.
In this post, we’ll explore the benefits of pre-program surveys, common pitfalls to avoid, and example survey questions to include. We’ll also discuss how using a tailored online survey tool like OfficerSurvey can make the process smooth, easy, and effective. Let’s dive in!
The Benefits of Pre-Program Surveys
Surveying your officers and citizens before starting a CPA provides many advantages, including:
- Gauging interest and availability among both groups
- Understanding motivations and goals on both sides
- Pinpointing logistical issues like timing, location, transportation, childcare needs, etc.
- Setting proper expectations about content, time commitment, etc.
- Allowing citizens a voice in shaping the program format and topics
- Identifying special needs like disabilities, language barriers, etc.
- Establishing benchmarks to measure program success against
Without this initial assessment, you run the risk of low turnout, unengaged participants, logistical headaches, and failure to meet objectives on both sides. Surveys provide crucial insight to prevent these pitfalls.
Pitfalls of Skipping Pre-Program Surveys
If you forgo citizen and officer surveys and rush into starting a CPA, common problems include:
- Low turnout due to scheduling conflicts, transportation issues, unclear expectations, etc.
- Participants unsatisfied with program content, speakers, facility, etc.
- Logistical nightmares around food, AV equipment, accessibility, etc.
- Inability to capture baseline metrics to measure program impacts over time
- Skewed applicant pool that doesn’t match community demographics
- Lack of officer buy-in leads to resentment or lack of participation
These issues result in a program that does not achieve its full potential and may even damage police-community relations. The time investment in surveys is small compared to the much larger investment in actually running a high-quality program over several weeks.
Survey Question Examples
So what types of questions should you ask in your pre-program surveys? Here are some examples:
For Citizens:
- How interested are you in participating in the Citizen Police Academy? Extremely interested Very interested Somewhat interested Not interested
- What motivates you to participate? (Select all that apply) Learn more about police work Interact with officers Clarify misconceptions about policing Share feedback and concerns with police Network with other community members Other (please specify)
- Which day(s) of the week would you be available to attend? (Select all that apply) Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
- Which time of day works best for you? Morning Afternoon Evening
- Do you have any dietary restrictions, disabilities, or other special needs we should prepare for?
- What topics would you be most interested in learning about? (Select up to 5) Patrol procedures Investigations Use of force De-escalation techniques Community outreach programs SWAT teams K9 units Emergency response Hiring and training Department history and values Other (please specify)
For Officers:
- How interested are you in participating as an instructor in the Citizen Police Academy? Extremely interested Very interested Somewhat interested Not interested
- What motivates you to participate? (Select all that apply) Help citizens understand police work Improve community relations Recruit potential volunteers or employees Clarify misconceptions about policing Other (please specify)
- What dates/times would you be available to instruct?
- What topics related to your role would you be willing to present on?
- What concerns do you have about participating, if any?
- What support would help make your participation a positive experience?
Key Takeaways
- Surveying officers and citizens before starting a CPA provides crucial insights that prevent problems down the road
- Understand motivations, availability, logistics, special needs and set proper expectations
- Failure to survey can lead to low turnout, unsatisfied participants, logistical issues, inability to measure success
- Example survey questions gauge interest, availability, motivations, topics, logistics, concerns and support needed
- Tools like Officer Survey make creating and analyzing pre-program surveys simple and effective
Now Is the Time to Act with Officer Survey
Trying to create, distribute, analyze, and act on pre-program surveys may sound daunting. That’s why we recommend using OfficerSurvey – the leading online survey and data analysis tool designed specifically for law enforcement.
With Officer Survey, you can:
- Easily create customized surveys for officers, citizens, or anyone else
- Instantly distribute surveys through email, social media, website links, QR codes, SMS and more
- Get user-friendly analytical reports on survey results
- Seamlessly act on insights from the data
Designed by law enforcement experts, Officer Survey has an intuitive interface and works seamlessly on desktop or mobile. There are no set-up fees, onboarding, or software downloads required. You can get started conducting unlimited surveys right away.
The time to act is now. Don’t wait until it’s too late – begin gathering crucial pre-program insights with Officer Survey today. Your CPA success depends on proactively understanding the needs and motivations of both officers and citizens. OfficerSurvey makes it easy.
Click here and get started with pre-program citizen academy surveys right away. Don’t let potential pitfalls sink your next Citizen Police Academy. With the right survey strategy, you’ll be set up for maximum community impact.
