This data collection was designed to evaluate the
implementation of community policing initiatives for three police
departments in Jefferson County, West Virginia: the Ranson Town Police
Department, the West Virginia State Police (Jefferson County
Detachment), and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. The
evaluation was undertaken by the Free Our Citizens of Unhealthy
Substances Coalition (FOCUS), a county-based group of citizens who
represented all segments of the community, including businesses,
churches, local law enforcement agencies, and local governments. The
aim was to find answers to the following questions: (1) Can community
policing have any detectable and measurable impact in a predominantly
rural setting? (2) Did the police department do what they said they
would do in their funding application? (3) If they were successful,
what factors supported their efforts and were key to their success?
and (4) If they were not successful, what problems prevented their
success? The coalition conducted citizen surveys to evaluate how much
of an impact community policing initiatives had in their county. In
January 1996, research assistants conducted a baseline survey of 300
households in the county. Survey responses were intended to gauge
residents' fear of crime and to assess how well the police were
performing their duties. After one year, the coalition repeated its
survey of public attitudes, and research assistants interviewed
another 300 households. The research assumption was that any change in
fear of crime or assessment of police performance could reasonably be
attributed to these new community policing inventions. Crime reporting
variables from the survey included which crime most concerned the
respondent, if the respondent would report a crime he or she observed,
and whether the respondent would testify about the crime in
court. Variables pertaining to level of concern for specific crimes
include how concerned respondents were that someone would rob or
attack them, break into or vandalize their home, or try to sexually
attack them/someone they cared about. Community involvement variables
covered participation in community groups or activities, neighborhood
associations, church, or informal social activities. Police/citizen
interaction variables focused on the number of times respondents had
called to report a problem to the police in the last two years, how
satisfied they were with how the police handled the problem, the
extent to which this police department needed improvement, whether
children trusted law enforcement officers, whether police needed to
respond more quickly to calls, whether the police needed improved
relations with the community, and in the past year whether local
police performance had improved/gotten worse. Specific crime
information variables include whether the crime occurred in the
respondent's neighborhood, whether he/she was the victim, if crime was
serious in the respondent's neighborhood versus elsewhere, whether the
respondent had considered moving as a result of crime in the
neighborhood, and how personal safety had changed in the respondent's
neighborhood. Variables relating to community policing include whether
the respondent had heard the term "community policing" in the past
year, from what source, and what community policing activities the
respondent was aware of. Demographic variables include job
self-classification, racial/ethnic identity, length of residency, age,
gender, martial status, educational status, and respondent's town of
residence.