A Survey of Ferguson Stakeholders and A Vision of Community Policing
Highlights
The Ferguson Collaborative (formerly the DOJ Working Group) undertook our survey of Ferguson residents and stakeholders from a desire to raise up the voice of those directly affected by policing. It is from those voices, we believe, that the most effective solutions will be found. Our results were striking in five areas. We found:
- A Strong Desire for Change 84% of respondents wanted the Ferguson Police disbanded, rebuilt or reformed.
- A Strong Desire to Maintain an Independent Ferguson PD 78% of respondents wanted to keep policing of Ferguson separate from the county or other cities.
- Significant Racial Disparities in Experiences with the Ferguson PD Black people experiences tend toward the negative while White people’ are more likely to characterize their interactions with police as “good” or “excellent.” White people are 6 times more likely than Black people to rate their experience “excellent.”
- A Strong Desire for Elected Agencies to Represent Community Voices When asked what form citizen input should take, respondents consistently and overwhelmingly wanted elected rather than appointed bodies to represent them.
- A Strong Desire for Reforms that Stop Crime, Involve the Community in Solutions and End Racial Profiling When it comes to specific reforms, our respondents want quick police responses, community engagement, and training that will address racial disparities.
The release of our Interim Report details just what our community has to say about policing. With these results in mind, and feedback from our community forum, we plan in the final version of this report to add a vision of what policing should be.1 We hope the survey and that vision can serve as guideposts for the Department of Justice as it implements the community mandate for change.
Click here to read the full report: http://bit.ly/fergusonsurveyresults