NCJ Number
90014
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1983) Pages: 129-135
Date Published
1983
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This survey of citizen satisfaction with various services of the Edmonton Police Department (Alberta, Canada) found the greatest satisfaction with the telephone operator service followed in descending order by on-scene action and response time.
Abstract
So as to have a representative sample of offense types, geographical areas, and other socioeconomic factors, a total of 2,730 users of services was selected. Mail questionnaires were used, with a telephone followup to increase the response rate. The response rate was 66.4 percent. The questionnaire was divided into five main areas: (1) telephone complaint (communication operator) evaluation, (2) response times, (3) on-scene service evaluation, (4) overall evaluation, and (5) additional information, including sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents. Questions were answered by rating on a six-point scale. In the telephone operator evaluation, 88 percent of the respondents indicated they were satisfied with the time taken by the operator to answer the phone. The mean score on the courtesy and attitude of the operator was 5.20, and 97.6 percent of the respondents felt that the telephone operator understood their complaints. Regarding response time, the mean satisfaction score was 5.09, and for on-scene service, the mean score on satisfaction was 5.18. The mean score on overall satisfaction was 5.04. Analysis found that present actual response times are the same as citizens' ideal times, indicating that perceived response times are longer than actual times. It might be helpful for the police operator to give an approximate time for police arrival when the complaint is called in so perceptions of response time may be closer to actual response times. Tabular data and 10 references are provided.