Based on input from two surveys, Sweet Home Police Department will step up traffic patrols in residential areas and work on new ways to address the problems of youths smoking along 15th Avenue.
Based on a general survey circulated through The New Era, “we’re going to continue (with traffic enforcement) like we have been all year,” Chief Bob Burford said, but the department will have a stronger focus on speeding and reckless driving in residential areas.
Those areas are harder for patrols to enforce than Main Street or Long Street, Chief Burford said. On Main and Long, hundreds of vehicles pass a patrol officer. On residential streets, only four or five may pass by a patrol officer in the same amount of time, and the odds of catching offending drivers and taking enforcement action decrease.
“From the student survey (distributed to high school civics students), I can se we’re going to have to take a different approach to dealing with the smokers that hang out in the area of 15th Avenue,” Chief Burford said. Some of them are not students at the high school at all but go there to meet their girlfriends during lunch and before and after school.
Students are concerned that it creates a poor image of the high school, and some are apparently intimidated by the smokers, Chief Burford said. Some students are too intimidated to walk the “gauntlet” to Safeway or Speedee Mart.
“I was very pleased that people responding thought we were doing a good job,” Chief Burford said. “We’re going to work hard to maintain that confidence.”
General Survey
Of the surveys distributed with The New Era, 125, representing 318 citizens, were returned to the police department by an Oct. 1 deadline. The department has received approximately 20 since the deadline, and Chief Burford is reviewing those as well.
“What we learned is that the majority of respondents are irritated by the same things that irritate police officers in their own neighborhoods,” Chief Burford said. Though police spend their time investigating thefts, burglaries and other crimes, most respondents were most concerned about speeders, reckless driving and “the neighbor’s barking dog.”
Overall, 87 rated Sweet Home Police Department good or excellent, 12 percent rated it fair and 1 percent rated it poor.
“Overall, I think what the survey told me is we’re doing a whole lot of things right,” Chief Burford said. “But the citizens, who overall pay the bill, would like us to focus more on traffic-related issues.”
That is not surprising with the decrease in traffic citations last year, Chief Burford said. Now, with a full complement of officers, the department has been spending more time on traffic patrol. He believes the comments tend to reflect last year’s decrease in traffic enforcement.
According to the survey, 49 percent of respondents were concerned most about reckless drivers and speeding followed by animal nuisances at 35 percent.
Of respondents, 95 percent said they felt safe walking in their own neighborhood during the day, and 67 felt safe at night. Similarly, 96 percent felt safe visiting public areas during the day, and 70 percent felt safe at night.
Ninety-three percent reported seeing a patrol car in their neighborhoods within the last 30 days. Fifty-eight percent reported having contact of some type with Sweet Home Police Department within the last year.
High School Survey
In a separate survey to the high school civics students, mostly sophomores, the department received 73 responses.
The students, like the general public, were evenly split on how police should split their time between minor and serious crimes.
On traffic, nine students suggested the police should focus less on traffic. Four thought police should increase their emphasis on traffic enforcement.
Forty-two percent said they had contact with police in the last year.
“The thing that stood out, boldly stood out, with the student survey was how many of the responses addressed the smokers in the area of 15th and Long and 15th and Main as being a problem they would like addressed,” Chief Burford said.
The biggest split with the general survey was on the overall performance of the department.
Fifty-three percent of students said police services were good or excellent compared to 14 percent who said they were poor.
“I’d like to see us do a lot better there,” Chief Burford said.