Police say results from the survey will be used as a learning tool to better address concerns from the community.
The Evesham Township Police Department is looking for feedback from the members of the public it serves.
The department launched a community survey this week where members of the public can offer their opinions of the department either online or through a paper form available at police headquarters.
According to Evesham Police Capt. Walt Miller, the survey will allow the department to gain insight to the attitudes and opinions members of the public hold toward the department and its operations.
According to a post detailing the survey on the department’s Facebook page, the survey will measure residents’ opinions on the department’s “overall performance, competency of the agency employees, perceptions of the officers’ attitudes and behavior, concerns over safety and security within the township and recommendations and suggestions for improvement.”
Police say they will use results from the survey as a learning tool to better address concerns from members of the public.
Through the survey, residents can describe the time and place of any past contact with the department in the past 12 months, as well as the nature of that contact (victim, witness, arrestee, etc.).
Those who take the survey can offer opinions on the courtesy and demeanor of the officer/department member they interacted with, as well as overall skills and knowledge of the employee.
Members of the public can also rate how safe they feel in Evesham Township and list their greatest concerns regarding safety and security in town.
The survey also allows residents to rate specific services the department offers, such as neighborhood police patrols, traffic law enforcement, drunk driving enforcement, response time to 911 calls, response time for non-emergency calls, drug and alcohol education, animal complaints, assistance with domestic/neighborhood disputes, narcotics investigations, public information, identity theft prevention and education programs, cyber-crimes investigations and prevention programs, investigation of child abuse and the overall quality of police services.
“We’re hoping to get feedback from the community to use as a bit of a barometer for how people perceive the services we provide or maybe how they think we could improve … the more input we get, the better information we get because then you get a larger cross section of the community that’s contributing to it,” Miller said.
Miller said the survey also ties into the department’s continued certification through the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies.
Police officials in the past have described CALEA as the “gold standard” in public safety accreditation among law enforcement agencies.
The ETPD was awarded its second reaccreditation through CALEA in November, which officials say places the department among the top 1 percent of law enforcement agencies in the country for “professionalism and organization excellence.”
As of November, officials say the ETPD was one of only nine municipal police departments in New Jersey to receive CALEA accreditation.
Residents who wish to complete the survey have until Aug. 12.
Those looking for more information can contact Miller at (856) 985–6029 or through email at millerw@eveshampd.org.
To complete the survey online, visit www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018ETPDSurvey.
Links to the survey will also be posted periodically through the summer on the department’s Facebook page.
For a physical copy of the survey, visit police headquarters at the Evesham Municipal Complex at 984 Tuckerton Road.
