The Roswell Police Department is using a text survey to learn how they interact with the public when they respond to calls.
Roswell police chief Joe Smith said the survey is being taken to gauge what the public thinks about how the officers relate to them when they have face-to-face interaction.
“A lot of people will not necessarily pick up the phone and make a phone call, but whenever you have a mobile device in your hands, which most people do all of the time, it takes a few seconds to send a quick text message reply to this survey,” Smith told KOB.
The text survey will be sent to the number of a person who made a call to dispatch for a burglary or any other reason that necessitates an officer to respond.
According to the department’s website, “These text messages are sent hours or days after the incident and will ask citizens to take a quick survey about their experiences with RPD and the dispatch center and rate the service received. It will also allow citizens to provide their own comments and other input, as well as words of gratitude, after receiving these public-safety services.”
Supervisors will be alerted to continual bad reviews for a specific officer or specific action.
“If it is of a serious nature, it will be looked into completely thoroughly, and it will be dealt with,” Smith said. “But, if it’s just ‘the officer could have done this better or communicated better,’ then we will address it accordingly.”
The text service will also give the 911 caller updates on the police report if one was filed. “All this information will be going to our supervisors and to our administration, so we can do a better job serving our community, and also giving those officers that do a good job the recognition that they deserve for doing a good job,” Smith said.
Residents who do not want to participate can simply not respond to the text-survey invitations. They may also reply with “STOP” to opt out of all future text surveys from RPD. Remember to call 911 for any emergency or to report criminal activity. Non-emergency calls can be made to 575-624-6770.