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The North Charleston Police Department is asking everyone in its jurisdiction to take a survey to help the department improve “policies, procedures, training, and community relations in North Charleston,” according to the city’s website.
The survey, available until June 30 in both English and Spanish, asks respondents to rate how protected they feel from various crimes (such as car break-ins, assaults, etc.), how they feel about North Charleston police officers, and how positive (or negative) their interactions with NCPD officers have been in the past.
The survey was designed by the Police Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps evaluate police departments and provides assistance with training and community relations efforts.
It does not ask for names or any other sensitive information and the survey’s instructions say that while the findings “may be presented in publications or at conferences,” individual responses “will not be disclosed.”
The Police Foundation, contracted by the Department of Justice Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) office to conduct this survey, is also one of the seven firms the City of Charleston is considering for a racial bias study of the Charleston Police Department.
[content-1] NCPD has been working with the COPS office on a “technical assistance plan” since January, according to North Charleston city spokesperson Spencer Pryor.
That plan looks to strengthen partnerships with the community, reduce violent crime, and create safer neighborhoods. The current COPS partnership is unrelated to a 2016 COPS review of the department following the fatal shooting of Walter Scott by a North Charleston officer in 2015. Attorney General Jeff Sessions pulled the plug on all reform assessments last year after President Donald Trump took office, and the report on the NCPD has still not been released.
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