Our Full Polling Results on Community Safety Departments
Community Safety Departments (CSD) are the third branch of public safety—sitting alongside fire and police as co-equal city departments. They function as umbrella organizations that centralize a city’s unarmed crisis response programs in the same way that a police department centralizes various law enforcement functions. Whereas a police department has divisions like robbery-homicide, and SWAT, CSDs have divisions such as mobile crisis response and violence intervention.
Over the past month, Safer Cities has reported on a public opinion survey capturing the views of 1,704 likely voters nationally [methodology]. Thus far, we’ve detailed the overwhelming voter support for the creation of a CSD where they live; how voters perceive the ideal scope of the range of calls that a CSD should respond to (e.g. mental health; drug overdoses); why voters support CSDs (e.g. they think CSDs will make their city safer); and how voters believe the services that a CSD could offer should be delivered (e.g. from a single umbrella organization as opposed to separate organizations).
This week is the final installment. We will discuss: whether voters prefer that community safety officers be public officials or private contractors; whether the educational or experiential background of candidates for these roles matter to voters; and how voters feel about the training requirements that new hires into these departments receive. And then we will recap our full universe of findings.
THIS WEEK'S RESULTS:
1. Voters prefer that members of a community safety department, much like police officers or firefighters, be public employees.
68% of voters believe that community safety departments should be staffed by city employees as opposed to private contractors.
80% of voters agree with the statement: “There is more accountability and transparency when the city hires and manages community safety departments staff directly rather than farming those jobs out to private contractors.”
2. Most voters believe that it is necessary for community safety departments to hire employees with significant prior academic and field experience in mental health, social work, or other related fields.
57% said it was necessary for individuals hired in a community safety department to have “at least three years of relevant work experience in a field such as social work, mental health care, or drug counseling.”
54% said it was necessary for individuals hired in a community safety department to have “specific college or post-graduate coursework in relevant fields, such as psychology and psychiatry, substance use and abuse, or social work.”
3. Voters Prefer Levels of Training For Community Safety Department Professionals That Resemble The Intensity of Police Academies.
Most police academies require between 800-900 hours of basic training to become a sworn police officer. Voters are more likely to say that a similar number of hours—1,000—is sufficient for training members of a community safety department than they are to say 100 hours is sufficient.
While 52% of voters said that “approximately 100 hours of training” was sufficient, 73% of voters said that “approximately 1000 hours of training” was sufficient.
FULL RESULTS:
4. Voters Support Community Safety Departments:
75% of voters, including most Republicans and most Democrats, support their city creating a community safety department that would function as a separate and coequal city department alongside the police and fire departments. Among Democrats, support sits at 88%.
Most police academies require between 800-900 hours of basic training to become a sworn police officer. Voters are more likely to say that a similar number of hours—1,000—is sufficient for training members of a community safety department than they are to say 100 hours is sufficient.
While 52% of voters said that “approximately 100 hours of training” was sufficient, 73% of voters said that “approximately 1000 hours of training” was sufficient.
5. Voters Community Safety Departments Even More After Watching A Local News Segment On The Albuquerque Community Safety Department.
Post-segment, voter support for creating a community safety department where they live spiked to 88%.
You can watch the news segment here.
6. Voters overwhelmingly prefer a singular department that houses and coordinates a range of unarmed first responder services.
We asked voters to tell us which of the “following statements comes closest to your own view, even if neither is exactly correct?”
62% of voters said that “programs like mobile crisis response, which address mental health and substance use related 911 calls; and security ambassadors, which provide a uniformed presence on major streets and in shopping districts, should be part of one city department, which could be called a Community Safety Department.”
25% of voters said that “programs like mobile crisis response and security ambassadors serve different functions and should be run as independent agencies as opposed to being centralized in one city Community Safety Department.”
7. Voters Support A Constellation Of Unarmed First Responder Units, Each With Specialized Training And Discrete Roles, Within A Community Safety Department.
We asked: “Please indicate if you support or oppose a unit within the community safety departments playing each of the following roles.” Here’s what voters reported:
Responding to mental health crises (89% support).
Engaging in proactive outreach to people who are homeless (89% support).
After a drug overdose, going to a person’s home within 72 hours to help with treatment programs, medical insurance issues, and transportation (85% support).
Picking up needles and other drug paraphernalia to ensure public spaces are safe and clean (84% support).
Providing a highly visible uniformed presence at the street level to deter low level crime (83% support).
8. Voters Strongly Agree That Community Safety Departments Make Their City Safer And Free Up Police To Focus More Resources On Solving Serious Crimes.
89% of voters agree that “community safety departments allow police departments to focus on solving serious crimes.”
84% of voters agree that “community safety departments will meet unmet needs because some people who need help are too scared to call 911 because they’re scared of the police.”
81% of voters agree that “community safety departments reduce the likelihood that a mental health crisis will result in injury or death.”
Approximately three-in-four voters (76% split sample A; 74% split sample B) agree that community safety departments make cities safer.
Note: We split participants into two groups for the following two questions to determine whether framing the question in terms of projected safety versus projected feelings of safety would significantly alter the results. It didn’t.
76% agree: “My city would be safer if we had a community safety department.”
74% agree: “My city would feel safer if we had a community safety department.”
Roughly seven-in-ten voters (72% split sample A; 73% split sample B) agree that community safety departments make cities more orderly.
72% agree: “My city would be more orderly if we had a community safety department.”
73% agree: “My city would feel more orderly if we had a community safety department.”
