Satisfaction with NOPD on the rise, survey finds
17th October 2016 · 0 Comments
Results announced last week from the New Orleans Crime Coalition’s regular survey show that public satisfaction with the NOPD has increased to a historic 64 percent, the highest such mark in the survey’s history and an impressive 16-point jump from last year.
The NOCC survey, its 12th since 2009, measures public perception of police performance in providing for the safety of residents of New Orleans. The study is a randomized, representative, independent survey designed to track trends over time in how New Orleans residents view the New Orleans Police Department. The current survey was conducted from September 12-15, 2016.
“Since our last survey in August 2015, overall citizen satisfaction has increased substantially,” said Loyola University professor Michael Cowan, chairman of the New Orleans Crime Coalition. “This sentiment was consistent among both Blacks and whites, demonstrating the growing mutual respect and alignment between the community and NOPD across all racial and economic lines.”
In addition to the significant overall satisfaction rate increase, the survey also saw numerous increases in public satisfaction from August 2015 to September 2016 with the NOPD in more detailed categories. For example, the survey shows that satisfaction with the NOPD among Black citizens increased to 66 percent, while satisfaction among white citizens increased to 57 percent.
Overall belief that the NOPD culture has improved over the past few years is at 69 percent, broken down to 67 percent of Black citizens polled and 68 percent of white citizens polled. In addition, survey results show overall confidence that police do a good job managing tension when interacting with members of the community is at an awesome 70 percent, broken down to 69 percent of Black citizens polled and 73 percent of white citizens polled. This is the first time the coalition has polled either of these questions.
Those polled also responded with an all-time high of 68 percent belief in the honesty and integrity of the department, as well as an all-time high of 68 percent in the overall competence of the department.
Citizen satisfaction pertaining to dealing with violent crime increased to 59 percent, while satisfaction pertaining to dealing with property crime increased to 62 percent, a figure up 10 points from last year.
An incredible 78 percent of respondents said they feel safe in their own neighborhood, while 49 percent of respondents said they feel safe outside their neighborhood.
Cowan said that the coalition feels the results likely reflect improved officer training and supervision, resulting from requirements of the Consent Decree under which NOPD operates.
“Chief (Michael) Harrison’s leadership — along with Mayor (Mitch) Landrieu’s support — likely factor into these much-improved statistics, as do the business-led efforts to improve NOPD recruitment,” Cowan said. “We congratulate the NOPD as it steadily works through the requirements of the consent decree and dedicates itself to the safety and betterment of our community. We will continue to independently track and report to the public on the state of the relationship between citizens and the police department, as that relationship is a key indicator of the community’s well-being.”
The full survey may be found at www.crimecoalitionnola.com.
Some residents and community activists told The Louisiana Weekly that they are wary of the survey’s results as the NOPD continues to work its way through a federally mandated consent decree aimed at overhauling the department, a severe manpower shortage and a sharp rise in violent crime.
“Given the number of complaints I hear about racial profiling, harassment and the persistence of gun violence and property crimes, it’s hard to imagine almost 70 percent of Black or white residents would say that the NOPD has improved that much in such a short time,” the Rev. Raymond Brown, a community activist and president of National Action Now, told The Louisiana Weekly Tuesday.
“What I would say is that the NOPD and the Landrieu administration have stepped up efforts to get more residents to view the police department in a more positive light,” Brown added. “We have seen more news footage of cops praying with residents and marching in anti-crime and violence rallies over the past six months than we have seen over the past decade. But I can’t see that translating to such drastically improved public satisfaction with the NOPD in such a short time.”
Brown said he is also skeptical of the survey results because Cowan is a friend of former NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas and helped Serpas, a childhood friend of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, to get a lucrative job at Loyola University after Serpas resigned amid a scandal in which the NOPD failed for two days to report that a female officer shot a suspect in the head after turning off her body camera.
Ramessu Merriamen Aha, a New Orleans businessman, research scientist and former congressional candidate, warned against relying heavily on surveys to measure progress the NOPD has made after three years of implementing the 492-point consent decree.
“The thing is, you can get surveys and polls to find and say whatever you want them to find and say based on who commissions them, how questions are asked and who those questions are posed to,” Aha told The Louisiana Weekly. “That’s why you so seldom hear or read about a survey from city leaders that reflects poorly on the police department or some other city-run agency. There’s a certain amount of loading the deck that goes into producing surveys and administering them.
“If you stop 100 Black or white people on the streets of New Orleans, do you think 68 to 70 of them would see vast improvements in the performance of the NOPD?”
This article originally published in the October 17, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
