WS - E - Conducting Community Surveys

close scrutiny by police leaders, academicians, community groups, politicians, and the media and that can be compared with similar surveys by other jurisdictions. The goal of this guide is to help you identify the issues in conducting useful surveys. However, this guide addresses only the basic elements of survey research. To learn more about research and statistics for police managers, see Appendix B. Police agencies may also consult with professionals about the technical aspects of survey research. The step-by-step procedures in this guide will help you and whoever will conduct the survey to address the following basic but critical issues: Why are we doing a survey and what do we want to know? What kind of resources and commitment do we have for this effort? Who should be surveyed and how? How many people should be surveyed? What do we do with the responses to the survey? Answering these questions will make conducting surveys a relatively painless process to collect valuable information from the community. This guide also provides the reader with a brief description of the critical issues affecting community surveys. How was the survey developed? Some background on this survey project is in order. The community survey discussed in this guide builds on the work currently part of the National Crime Victimization Survey, or NCVS. The NCVS has been conducted since 1972 by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The results of the NCVS are widely available to police and others, and are developed to provide national estimates of victimization, illuminating how actual victimization varies from crime reported to the police. Because much crime is not reported to police, the NCVS findings clarify patterns of crime that are actually experienced by citizens and give the victim’s perspective on what happened and the consequences. Because the NCVS is based on a nationwide sample designed to produce estimates for the entire United States, the NCVS does not provide insight into crime problems at the city, county, or state level. To assist localities with collecting this important victimization information and other information at the city level, COPS and BJS have developed a standardized software package. Known as the Crime Victimization Survey or CVS, the CVS software duplicates all the questions in the NCVS. In addition, the CVS includes a component which asks specific questions about community policing. Moreover, both the victimization component and the community policing component of the CVS can be modified to meet specific local needs. 2 A Practical Guide for Police