At a time when strained and often hostile relationships between communities and their police departments are front page news, and people from all sides are demanding better communications, Hollister’s Police Chief David Westrick shares just about every aspect of his life, personal and professional, as well as his department’s activities through every technological tool at his disposal.
On July 11, Westrick announced on Facebook’s What’s Happening in Hollister page, and through a press release, that the department was partnering with Concise Research Group (CRG) in a project that uses anonymous surveys to provide feedback to the department that is designed to assist it in implementing a procedural justice training program that is focused on identifying areas that can improve the level of the Hollister PD’s service to the community.
The program works through anonymous comments submitted by people who come into contact with police officers—whether they are the victims or possible perpetrators of a crime or infraction—through an online survey that they will only know exists because the same officer handed them a card that has all the contact information on it. In effect, the officer is handing them a means to judge how he or she treated them.
According to the release: “Concise Research Group is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our community by simplifying complex conversations between the public and the police. Using the state-of-the-art data collection and analytic techniques, CRG helps departments to increase faith in law enforcement by fostering positive work environments in which officers are inspired to maintain the highest standards of ethics and integrity.
“Through evidence-based best practices, the CRG will assist the department in implementing a procedural justice training program focused specifically on the identified areas to improve the level of Hollister Police Departments service to the community overall.”
Westrick told BenitoLink at his office Monday that the program was long in play before recent officer-involved shootings in Texas, Minnesota and Illinois.
“About four months ago myself and Al DeVos, who is the gang coordinator for San Benito County, got together to write a grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC),” Westrick said. “The grant was to strengthen communities through procedural justice, which is the idea that dignity, neutrality, voice, and trustworthiness, are all keynotes in the behavior of the officers in serving the public.”
He said Hollister is the first police department in the nation to take part in the full procedural justice survey. He predicted that it was only a matter of time before every law enforcement agency in the country was onboard with the program.
“We wanted to do something that would give us a good measure from the folks that we serve,” he said. “To do that we thought it has to be in Spanish and English. There’s got to be a way for folks to feel comfortable saying exactly how they feel. So it has to be anonymous.”
The department began researching how to do that and discovered CRG in Nebraska and their behavioral analysis tool. Westrick contacted CRG and he and DeVos studied CRG’s prices in order to include them in the grant. While waiting to hear back from the state about the grant they kept communicating with CRG.
Westrick said before they found out that they did not get the grant CRG contacted him to say that the company had just received a grant of its own. CRG told him that they wanted to work with Hollister whether the police department received the grant or not. Westrick said CRG needed a large, medium sized, and small agency to launch the program and CEO Justin Peet from CRG came to Hollister to demonstrate the tool. He told CRG that it was important for the officers of the department to be involved in the process.
“They’re the ones who are going out and handing out those cards,” Westrick said. “I thought it was important that they know the whys, what’s and where’s, and believe in it. From the beginning, I had 100 percent confidence that this would not be an issue with our officers. Think about this. You’re giving somebody you arrested a card to report on you. When we presented this to our officers they immediately bought into it.”
Westrick said many of his officers had people from CRG ride on patrols with them to better understand the culture, the mindsets of the officers and the city itself. He said the officers were even involved in helping the company make minor adjustments to the forms.
“These guys who wrote this program are not on the street,” Westrick said. “Their stuff was actually pretty good. The changes were tiny, a little phrase here or there.”
He described how the officers would use the program: “The officer goes to a call. The call’s over. Whatever the result is he gives a card to those people specifically involved. In a domestic violence call both parties would get a card. We don’t want to know how they feel about the police department. We want to know about the officer’s behavior. Did the officer explain the reason for the stop (in the case of a traffic violation) in a way you could understand?”
He said from the information on the card the person can submit their comments by phone, SMS (texting), any web browser, or QR reader (smart phone). They can scan the QR code on the back with their smart phones and that will take them to the website. Or, from a search engine on their phone, iPad or computer, type in conciseresearchgroup.com and then type in the access code, each of which is different.
The information they enter goes to CRG, who conducts an analysis, and then forwards that to Westrick and a few select ranking officers. The officer who answered the call and gave out the card never sees the information. Westrick said he can read the analysis or make his own determinations by reading the raw data.
“We want to keep it anonymous so the case number will never be connected to the report,” he said, and then added that the program is not a complaint line, which the department has, and it is not 911. “It’s a behavioral tool only. We are trying to improve the way we do business here in Hollister by allowing folks to say whatever they want about their experience with our officers.”
The survey can be completed with yes and no answers. The resulting report is completely anonymous from the public’s and the officer’s positions.
The chief said, though, that should there be a bad officer, there is a way to determine who that is. He said the officers work in different beats around the city, and if the cards reveal there are issues in a particular beat, it can be determined who that officer is, but there is no way to determine who filled out the survey.
Westrick said that while there may be some initial misunderstanding on the public’s part about how to use the cards, it’s a much better way of communicating their opinions about the behavior of officers than what the department currently has, which is nothing.
“We’re not doing anything, no one is, and that’s scary to me,” he said.
Westrick said he wanted it to be clear to the community that the survey is not a result of recent events around the country, but from a four-month effort to obtain a state grant that would pay for it, along with several other programs and positions in the department, all of which were lost because the city did not get the grant. In fact, the survey tool is free to the city because CRG did receive its own grant and wanted to work with Hollister, the first police department in the country to be involved with the program.
When BenitoLink previewed this article with a NewsByte on What’s Happening in Hollister, and Westrick added comments and links to two videos about the program, numerous residents responded with positive comments.
Steve Ward wrote: “I applaud the department’s willingness to accept feedback from the citizens and voters. This should provide all involved with the opportunity to make things better while reducing any tension that may be building.”
Michelle Ann wrote: “Oh my! I’ve worked in 3 police department as a DV advocate and never imaged (sic) those departments would encourage this feedback! I’m so thrilled I live in Hollister! This really is remarkable. Thank you Hollister PD for listening to your community members and for encouraging even more room for dialogue. This kind of interaction is golden!”
The Hollister Police Department produced videos in Spanish and English that can be shared on social media, blogs and websites. These videos can help further explain the survey and the process for taking it. The videos can be found here:
English version – https://youtu.be/3nuSlk-j2MM
Spanish version – https://youtu.be/JC0UxcJzXfI
The document from CRG provides additional information: https://www.conciseresearchgroup.com/pdf/ConciseResearchGroupWhitepaper.pdf
You must be logged in to post a comment.