Survey Results for Officer Satisfaction with Complaint and Disciplinary Processes
On May 24, 2007, the Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM) issued its follow-up report prepared by professors from Ohio University and Delaware University detailing the results of the
second annual survey of Denver Police Department (DPD) officers regarding their
level of satisfaction with the DPD’s c
omplaint handling and disciplinary processes.
The survey was distributed to
all DPD officers and then returned to Ohio University for analysis. The survey included questions about officers’ satisfaction with the complaint and disciplinary processes, officers’ satisfaction with Internal Affairs staff, officers’ attitudes toward the OIM, and officer morale.
The purpose of the survey is to
evaluate officer perceptions and attitudes against a 2005 baseline survey (which gauged perceptions of the process during the tenure of the Public Safety Review Commission, which the OIM replaced in 2005). The Independent Monitor is interested in using this data in an
attempt to improve officer and complainant satisfaction over the long term. The OIM expects to release its survey results on complainant satisfaction later this fall.
There were several key findings:
· Officers who were
“satisfied” or “neutral” with respect to their satisfaction with the complaint process in general
jumped from 36% to 70% since the time of the 2005 baseline survey.
· Officers largely believed that the
administration of the complaint process has improved since 2005.
· The percentage of officers who reported their
morale as either “average” or “high”
increased from 40% to 57% since the time of the 2005 baseline survey.
The
Report and Executive Summary are both available online at the OIM’s website at
www.denvergov.org/oim.