Alamo Colleges Police Department 2012 Customer Satisfaction Survey
Customer Satisfaction Survey Introduction The reporting of major incidents on America s college and university campuses in recent years has raised public safety concerns for the academic environment. Reporting of these incidents has highlighted a growing awareness and apprehension for safety as a reality of life on campus. As a proactive effort, the conducted a survey in the fall of 2012 to better understand the perceptions of the Alamo Colleges community (students, staff, faculty, and administrators) regarding security, safety and the delivery of services as well as attitudes toward the police department. The campus survey reported below is a reporting of those perceptions and attitudes. Method The sampling frame consisted of the broad population of Alamo Colleges students, faculty, staff, and administration. Our community was surveyed through the use of an on-line questionnaire using Survey Point. An invitation to the Alamo Colleges population at large was generated via email. The invitation to participate was accompanied with a direct and active web-link to the on-line survey. Access to the survey began on October 29 th, 2012 and the survey was ended and locked on November 19 th, 2012. Each student, faculty, staff, and administrator who checked their email had an opportunity to participate in the study. 2,652 instances of the survey being accessed occurred and there were a total of 2,051 respondents; however, not all respondents answered all questions. Demographics Self-reported demographic data obtained from respondents were classified into categories to represent constituent gender, service time, institutional affiliation and status.
RESULTS: DEMOGRAPHICS 69% of the respondents, claimed to be female and 31% claimed to be male. Over half (65%) of the respondents have been affiliated with the Alamo Colleges for five (5) or fewer years.
The five main campuses of the Alamo Colleges provided 91% of the survey feedback with San Antonio College affiliated community members comprising more than a third (36.3%) of the total responses. Which campus / district location do you attend classes or are employed at? ALAMO COLLEGES LOCATION Count Percent 201 W. Sheridan 58 3.2 811 W. Houston St. 39 2.2 Central Texas Technology Center 3 0.2 Northeast Lakeview College 165 9.2 Northwest Vista College 277 15.4 Palo Alto College 228 12.7 San Antonio College 650 36.3 St. Philips College 314 17.5 SPC Southwest Campus 21 1.2 Westside Education and Training Center 6 0.3 Kerville Center 3 0.2 First Responders Academy 1 0.1 Other 29 1.6 Totals 1794 100.0 The majority of the sample claimed that their primary affiliation with the Alamo Colleges was as a Student Academic (46%), while 24% claimed Staff Full Time, 11% claimed Faculty Full Time and 2% claimed Administrator.
RESULTS: SENSE OF SAFETY In order to measure an individuals sense of safety on a campus or district facility, community members were asked to respond to six questions to evaluate the degree of their sense of safety along a five point scale which rated responses from Very Unsafe to Safe to Very Safe. When asked how safe they felt walking around on a campus or district facility during the day a majority of respondents (95%) indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so. When asked how safe they felt walking around on a campus or district facility after dark / at night a majority of respondents (57%) indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so.
When asked how safe they felt working in an office or lab after hours a majority of respondents (78%) indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so. When asked how safe they felt using the parking lots and / or garage at night a majority of respondents (55%) indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so.
When asked how safe they felt being on campus during the weekend a majority of respondents (81%) indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so. When asked how safe they felt walking in the neighborhood surrounding campus at night 44% indicated that they felt safe to very safe doing so.
RESULTS: SECURITY In order to measure how much of a security concern certain environmental factors were on a campus or district facility, community members were asked to respond to seven questions to evaluate the degree they felt the environmental factor was not a problem. Ratings were obtained along a five point scale which rated responses from Serious Problem to Minor Problem to Not a Problem. When asked how they felt how much of a security concern lighting was, 23% indicated that they felt lighting on was not a problem. When asked how they felt how much of a security unsecure doors and windows were, 40% indicated that they felt unsecure doors and windows were not a problem.
When asked how they felt how much of a security concern was foliage that was overgrown, 45% indicated that they felt this factor was not a problem. When asked how they felt how much of a security concern were events being held in isolated areas, 47% indicated that they felt this factor was not a problem.
When asked how they felt how much of a security concern were classes and events being held at late times, 43% indicated that they felt this factor was not a problem. When asked how they felt how much of a security concern were unauthorized persons on campus, 39% indicated that they felt this factor was not a problem.
When asked how they felt how much of a security concern was the number of police personnel on campus, 39% indicated that they felt this factor was not a problem. RESULTS: SERVICE / VISIBILITY / ACCESSIBLITY In order to measure an individuals satisfaction with the service, visibility and accessibility of the, community members were asked to respond to five questions to evaluate they felt along a five point scale which rated responses from Agree to Disagree to Can t Rate. When asked if the services of the were readily accessible, 60% indicated that they felt they were.
When asked if crime alerts were appropriately issued across campus by the Alamo Colleges Police Department, 79% indicated that they felt they were. When asked if there were an adequate number of Emergency Blue Light phones 61% indicated that they felt they were.
When asked if officers were visible at night, 30% indicated that they felt they were. When asked if information about crime prevention and safety is readily available, 72% indicated that they felt it was.
RESULTS: PROFESSIONALISM In order to measure community members assessment of the professionalism factors of the officers they were asked to respond to three questions to evaluate how they felt along a five point scale which rated responses from Agree to Disagree to Can t Rate. When asked if officers conducted themselves courteously and professionally, 79% indicated that they felt they did. When asked if officers had a neat and professional appearance, 90% indicated that they felt they did.
When asked if officers were helpful, 76% indicated that they felt they were. RESULTS: OVERALL SATISFACTION In order to measure community members overall satisfaction with the services provided by the they were asked to respond to one question to evaluate how they felt with the choices given as Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. When asked if overall they were satisfied with the services provided by the Alamo Colleges Police Department 69% respondents indicated that they Strongly Agreed or Agreed they were.
CONCLUSION This sample of Alamo Colleges Community members surveyed expressed generally positive results regarding the police department. Conclusions that can be surmised from the results of this survey are that community members believe that the police department provides an overall satisfactory service and that officers are courteous and helpful when called upon. In assessing satisfaction with the services of the department 69% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that they were satisfied with the services provided by the department. In addition a significant majority of respondents reported that officers conducted themselves courteously (79%) and were helpful (76%). Community member s perceptions of crime are usually based on assessments of the conditions in their community, their past experiences as crime victims, the visibility of the police, and the activities that the police perform. To address these issues the following strategies are paramount: 1. Increase visibility on campus by creating a sense of omnipresence a concept that suggests that the police are always there. This can be accomplished through routine patrol, increasing foot and bike patrol in the interior areas of the campus to include going into buildings, responding to calls by community members to deal with problems that may cause crime, and arresting offenders to maintain order and protect life and property. 2. Encourage community engagement. Community engagement could be as simple as officers having casual conversations with members of the campus community to presenting crime prevention seminars and being involved in the various campus committees. Community engagement will help to foster partnerships between the police and the campus community to open avenues of information sharing to solve problems and reduce crime. This allows law enforcement an opportunity to receive a better understanding of community problems and, in turn, the community can find out what help law enforcement can offer on issues of crime and disorder. Finally, follow-up and additional evaluations should be pursued because the success of the police department is dependent on using good data as a foundation for understanding public perceptions and developing partnerships to address pertinent issues.