Police Poll Says Public Moderately Satisfied With Response Times

San Fernando Valley residents’ main concern in judging police service is how long it takes to get help in an emergency, and they are only moderately satisfied with current response times, according to a Los Angeles police survey.

Police managers should keep that in mind as the department “deepens its commitment” to community-based policing--a law enforcement philosophy that emphasizes police-civilian collaboration against crime over traditional patrolling methods, Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker said Tuesday.

“In the middle of our community policing, where we have a tendency to pull resources away from answering radio calls, we have to be alert to that and not let that wander away from us,” Kroeker said, referring to the importance of swift response to crime calls.

However, Kroeker, who has been an outspoken advocate of community policing, said he remains committed to the program that he launched in the Valley and has no plans to scale it down despite the survey’s results, which were released Tuesday.

Those surveyed were asked to rate questions and issues on a scale of one to five, and 91% of them cited emergency response time in the most important category. But only 14% said they were extremely satisfied with the current response times.

Regardless of where they live, Valley residents seem to strongly agree that their chances of being victimized by crime are greater than they were five years ago, survey results show.

They also agreed on the law enforcement issues of greatest concern, including investigation of major violent crimes (82%), gangs (66%), and drunk driving (71%).

But asked to rate police services in the Valley, residents in predominantly Anglo, more affluent patrol areas, such as the Devonshire and West Valley divisions, responded more favorably than those in poorer, racially mixed patrol areas such as the North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Foothill divisions.

Similarly, residents of those poorer patrol areas agreed more enthusiastically with the statement: “I believe the community should have more influence on how the Police Department handles the crime problem in the San Fernando Valley.”

The most enthusiastic agreement (37%) with that statement--aimed at measuring the popularity of community-based policing--came from the Foothill Division, the northeast Valley patrol area where black motorist Rodney G. King was beaten by police last year. About 15% of the Foothill responses came from black residents, the highest black participation of any of the five patrol areas surveyed.

Overall, 39% of the respondents rated police services in the Valley as average, 38% rated them as above average, and 8% as outstanding.

The survey was conducted to measure residents’ concerns about crime against their satisfaction with police service, said Kroeker, the Valley’s top Los Angeles police official.

Originally, it was to be conducted four times a year by professors at Cal State Northridge. But stymied by the cost of hiring professional statisticians, Kroeker had his own staff design the survey and analyze its results.

Questionnaires in English and Spanish were mailed out in March to randomly selected addresses in every ZIP code in the Valley. Of the 1,000 questionnaires mailed out, only 263 were returned completed.

Susan Pinkus, assistant director of the Los Angeles Times poll, said the response was too low to hold much significance. She also questioned whether the Police Department’s sponsorship of the survey automatically prevented some recipients from responding.

“It’s better to have a neutral party doing the survey than someone who people might perceive as having a vested interest,” Pinkus said.

Kroeker said the survey was not intended as “a pure scientific study” but a guideline.