Increasing the Efficiency of Police Departments in Allegany County, New York, 1994-1995

This study sought to investigate the attitudes of residents
 and law enforcement personnel living or working in Allegany County,
 New York in order to (1) assess community support of law enforcement
 efforts to collaborate on projects, and (2) determine rural law
 enforcement agencies' willingness to work together on community
 policing projects and share resources in such a way as to improve and
 increase their overall individual and collective effectiveness and
 efficiency. Community policing, for this study, was defined as any law
 enforcement strategy designed to improve policy directed toward law
 enforcement interaction with community groups and citizens. Data were
 gathered from surveys that were distributed to two groups. First, to
 determine community perceptions of crime and attitudes toward the
 development of collaborative community policing strategies, surveys
 were distributed to the residents of the villages of Alfred and
 Wellsville and the town of Alfred in Allegany County, New York (Part
 1, Community Survey Data). Second, to capture the ideas and
 perceptions of different types of law enforcement agencies regarding
 their willingness to share training, communication, and technology,
 surveys were distributed to the law enforcement agencies of
 Wellsville, Alfred, the New York State Police substation (located in
 the town of Wellsville), the county sheriff's department, and the
 Alfred State College and Alfred University public safety departments
 (Part 2, Law Enforcement Survey Data). For Part 1 (Community Survey
 Data), the residents were asked to rate their level of fear of crime,
 the reason for most crime problems (i.e., gangs, drugs, or
 unsupervised children), positive and negative contact with police, the
 presence and overall level of police service in the neighborhoods, and
 the importance of motor vehicle patrols, foot patrols, crime
 prevention programs, and traffic enforcement. Respondents were also
 asked whether they agreed that police should concentrate more on
 catching criminals (as opposed to implementing community-based
 programs), and if community policing was a good idea. Demographic data
 on residents includes their age, sex, whether they had been the victim
 of a property or personal crime, and the number of years they had
 lived in their respective communities. Demographic information for
 Part 2 (Law Enforcement Survey Data) includes the sex, age, and
 educational level of law enforcement respondents, as well as the
 number of years they had worked with their respective
 departments. Respondents were asked if they believed in and would
 support programs targeted toward youth, adults, the elderly, and
 merchants. Further queries focused on the number of regular and
 overtime hours used to train, develop, and implement department
 programs. A series of questions dealing with degrees of trust between
 the departments and levels of optimism was also asked to gauge
 attitudes that might discourage collaboration efforts with other
 departments on community-oriented programs. Officers were also asked
to rate their willingness to work with the other agencies.

Tags: community-policing, crime-prevention, fear-of-crime, police-citizen-interactions, police-community-relations, police-departments, police-effectiveness, police-patrol, public-approval, public-interest
Organization: Department of Justice