Today, Seattle University issued results for its third annual Public Safety Survey. This survey gauges attitudes around public safety issues, perceptions of police, neighborhoods and crime. Survey findings are used to support the Seattle Police Department’s Micro-Community Policing Plans (“MCPP”) initiative, which began three years ago and has been integral to police-community engagement and directing resources and services at the micro-community level.
The 2017 survey was administered in 10 languages, and garnered 6,454 responses from community members who live and/or work within the Seattle city limits. The survey was independently conducted by the Seattle University Department of Criminal Justice faculty and students.
Similar to previous survey findings, respondents indicated that Seattle maintains high levels of police legitimacy, social organization, social cohesion and informal social control.
“Our Micro-Community Policing Plans are one way we are responding to the individual needs of our communities,” said Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best. “Crime data and community perceptions of public safety are critical to directing police resources. We will continue to rely on both data and valuable input from our officers and communities to ensure priorities are being addressed, or refined where needed. Thank you to Seattle University for their commitment to this initiative, and their partnership.”
“The Seattle Public Safety Survey data provides an invaluable resource to the City of Seattle and the Seattle Police Department to be able to direct resources to differentially and holistically address issues that matter to Seattle and its neighborhoods,” said Dr. Jacqueline Helfgott, Professor and Chair of the Criminal Justice Department at Seattle University. “Seattle is the only city to have this in-depth annual micro-community measure of community perceptions of public safety that directs police resources based on data on both crime and community perception of crime. We are now in the fourth year of the MCPP, and the annual survey data provides a way to see how we have addressed public safety issues across the city.”
Information is updated quarterly for the city’s 59 MCPP neighborhoods on the Department’s interactive MCPP website.