Survey Finds High Satisfaction with Palo Alto Police
By Ying Shi
PALO ALTO, March 2 -- A new survey finds Palo Alto residents are satisfied with the city's police service.
The survey, released Feb. 6 by the City Auditor, shows that 78 percent of respondents who had contact with police department rated their contact good or excellent, 79 percent of residents rate animal control services good or excellent and 63 percent rate traffic control services good or excellent.
"Even up to 6 months later, respondents had strong feelings about their contact with the police officers," said City Auditor Sharon Erickson. "Most of us don't have contact with police department a lot. When we do, we remember it."
Requested by the Police Chief and City Manager, the survey randomly selected Palo Alto residents and non-residents who initiated calls for service to the Police Department for any reason from January to July 2005. The City Auditor mailed 400 surveys and received completed surveys from 69 individuals, or 22% of those receiving a survey. Survey respondents are anonymous.
Many respondents used this opportunity to say "thank you" for the professional service they have received. Others made suggestion: the police should have more "people skills," or focus on the level of enforcement and roadway conditions, for example.
"Keep up the good work - we need you guys!" said one respondent.
"I made illegal right turn during rush hour. Many were caught with me. There is a problem in that area with congestion," another respondent complained.
The Police Department took the survey results to heart. Police Chief Lynne Johnson admitted that there is room for improvement. "I have asked that the officers use especially the comments as reminders that a person's only interaction with an officer will determine not only their perception of the individual officer, but that of all officers," said Johnson in a statement in response to the survey.
With 1.51 sworn police officers per 1,000 residents, Palo Alto's total police staffing is higher than other local jurisdictions, because it includes full dispatch services for Stanford University and provide animal services to other jurisdictions. Stanford and the neighboring cities paid $ 67,197 and $35,588 respectively for the Police service last year, which accounted for 37 percent of the department's total revenue.
Police statistics show that the department handled over 52,000 calls for service last year. The department responded to 94 percent of emergency calls within 60 seconds of receipt of the call. Over the last five years, the average response rates for emergency calls improved to 5:01 minutes from 6:41 minutes. The average response rates for urgent calls improved to 7:50 minutes from 8:21 minutes.
"Our staffing load is higher now than it has been in the recent years," said Captain Dennis Burns of the Police Department, referring to a 10 to 12 percent increase of police officers. "That may have assisted us. We have more people available to response quicker."
The Police Department has also cut 7 full time positions on supportive service over the last five years. That is 4 percent of the department's total 180 authorized staffing, according to Captain Burns.
Despite the cuts, the city sustains an average of eight officers on patrol, 30 patrol vehicles and 10 motorcycles on the road at all times. And the department has managed to increase training hours to 137 from 114 hours per officer, or 20 percent, over the past five years, thanks to a new shift configuration that allows for more training hours, according to Burns.
Captain Burns praised the work his officers are doing on a daily base, saying that they often operate under extreme conditions in a very demanding and diverse community.
"In Palo Alto it is very different. You can be stopping a Stanford professor at one moment and stopping a pretty hard criminal, who is just got out of prison on probation the next minute. There is a lot of uncertainty in the work they do and they do an outstanding job," he said.
Bob Moss, a Barron Park resident for 30 years and a 1999 city council candidate, said the city's police should post more information online. "They should post where are burglaries, car break-ins, and things like that taking place, so that people would know if their particular part of the city is a hot spot for crime and they would be more alert," said Moss.
When evaluating safety in the community, 87 percent of residents felt "very" or "somewhat safe" from violent crimes. In their neighborhood during the day, 98 percent of residents felt "very" or "somewhat safe". After dark, 84 percent of residents felt "very" or "somewhat safe" in their neighborhoods. These ratings are above the norm of other jurisdictions surveyed by the National Citizen Survey.
"I think our neighborhood, as far as I can determine, is pretty safe," said Faith Hasping, Vice President of Meadow Park Neighborhood Association.
Captain Burns also emphasized the importance to "have a dialogue with citizens." When a new wave of burglars struck at least 13 homes in the middle and south sections of the nearly 26-square-mile city early this year, the Police worked with the neighborhood community to educate residents about how to make their houses more burglar-prove.
"If you don't have a deadbolt, get one. If you don't have dowels in your windows, get some," Burns told the audience at a Midtown Residents Association meeting last Tuesday. "If they really want to get in, they will find a way, but you want to make it as difficult for them as possible."
Moss added that he would like to see more coordination between neighborhood groups and the police department. "What the police did at the membership meeting of Midtown is exactly what they should be doing all over the city," he said.
Contact Ying Shi at shiying@stanford.edu
