Residents Asked to Fill Out Police Community Survey

                Do you care about your community? Do you want your opinion to matter? Are you tired of nothing changing? Please take the time to fill out a Parsons Police Community Survey coming to a mailbox near you.

                The Parsons Police Department is sponsoring a community survey that we have been working on in partnership grant with the Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC). CRI-TAC is part of the US Department of Justice Office of Community Policing, and the program provides critical and tailored technical assistance resources to state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies on a wide variety of topics. It features a "by the field, for the field" approach while delivering individualized technical assistance using leading experts in a range of public safety, crime reduction, and community policing topics. CRI-TAC is a public service and offered at no cost to local law enforcement agencies.

                The survey, which takes about 15 minutes to complete, follows the US Department of Justice guidelines. It was tailored to the city of Parsons as part of a grant. An Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University created the survey form.

                This Community Survey will be sent to each residence and can be filled out and returned using the enclosed prepaid postage. "We just asked for honest answers from the community to push our agency and city officials to the next level of public service," said Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks.  The survey will be analyzed by The Docking Institute at Ft. Hays State University and the results will be made available to the community.

                According to Deputy Chief Dennis Dodd, "It is very hard to gauge perceptions citizens have on crime and the level of service we provide without accurate feedback. Most of the time government agencies are inundated with negative feedback from the same handful of citizens that are naysayers. Is that limited feedback a true representation of the community or not? This is an opportunity for citizens to make their voice heard. Stop being the silent majority and tell us how we are doing. What can be better? What services do you like or expect, what is the perception of crime, versus actual crime? The survey offers us a unique opportunity to hear from our community and citizen partners."

                Please take the time and provide some feedback on your community. Surveys can be mailed back in the pre-paid envelope, dropped off at city hall (117 S 17th) at the front counter or in the lobby of the Parsons Police Department (217 N Central) by 5pm on Monday February 13, 2023.

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