Trust in Police and Safety Scores

Overview

The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) has a community policing strategy. This strategy is built on strengthening communication and collaboration between police officers and residents.

We are conducting ongoing surveys of Grand Rapids residents to understand:

  1. The public safety priorities of Grand Rapids residents in their neighborhoods
  2. How safe Grand Rapids residents feel in their neighborhoods
  3. The level of trust residents have in the police officers in their neighborhood

We use this data to better understand resident concerns in the communities we serve. We're also making this data available below to further the conversation between police and Grand Rapids communities.

Check out these scores in the sections of this page.

Measuring Trust and Safety

Your trust in the police and how safe you feel in your neighborhood are crucial to your quality of life in Grand Rapids. To measure these, Elucd develops Sentiment Scores based on your responses to survey questions.

These scores are designed to have strategic, tactical and operational value for City leaders. The scores are on a scale of 0 - 100. 

The reason these matter is twofold:

  1. Crime statistics on their own don't provide the right information to address gaps in residents' trust in police and how safe they feel in the community
  2. Low or decreasing violent crime metrics are often used as an indicator of successful policing. Yet, residents may have other concerns they feel are being neglected

These scores and data will provide decision makers with input from every demographic group throughout the city.

Like many other cities, we often hear from only a small subsection of the city at public hearings. This survey provides us with input across the city from a larger and more representative cross section of the Grand Rapids population. 

Trust in Police Score

The trust score is calculated based on resident responses to the below questions:

  • The police in my neighborhood treat local residents with respect. (Level of agreement from 0-10)
  • The police in my neighborhood listen to and take into account the concerns of local residents. (Level of agreement from 0-10)

Score

The current trust score is 67 (on a scale from 0 - 100).

This score is based on data from 1/1/20 - 3/31/20.

Trust score per service area

GRPD has 5 neighborhood service areas. The Trust Score is broken down by demographics in the below images:

Trust Score(JPG, 17KB)

Trust Score by Sex(JPG, 35KB)

Trust Score by Age(JPG, 42KB)

Trust Score by Race(JPG, 44KB)

Trust Score by Service Area(JPG, 46KB)

Safety Score

The safety score is calculated based on resident responses to the below question:

  • When it comes to the threat of crime, how safe do you feel in your neighborhood? (Level of safety from 0-10)

Score

The current safety score is 67  (on a scale from 0 - 100).

This score is based on data from 1/1/20 - 3/31/20.

Safety score per service area

GRPD has 5 neighborhood service areas. The Safety Score is broken down by demographics in the below images.

Safety Score(JPG, 17KB)

Safety Score by Sex(JPG, 37KB)

Safety Score by Age(JPG, 40KB)

Safety Score by Race(JPG, 42KB)

Safety Score by Service Area(JPG, 46KB)

Police Neighborhood Service Areas

The data is broken down by police Neighborhood Service Areas. Check them out below.

Police Neighborhood Service Areas