Hawaii Police Department » Analysis – Community Satisfaction Survey 2013

Overall, positive responses to survey questions outnumbered negative responses in all questions but one. For that question (“I am satisfied in the way the Hawaiʻi Police Department responds to crime in my community”), 34.4 percent of participants had a positive response while 41.6 percent had a negative response. Those figures are still better than they were in 2010, when 32.2 percent of participants gave a positive response to the same question and 41.8 percent gave it a negative response.

Positive responses about police personnel improved overall compared with the previous survey conducted in 2010. This is the case despite respondents giving lower positive responses to the questions “The island of Hawaiʻi is a safe place to live” (down 6.9 percent) and “The island of Hawaiʻi is a safe place to visit” (down 3.9 percent.)

Satisfaction with civilians ranked higher than satisfaction with sworn officers in every category.

When it came to questions about contact with a police officer, positive responses improved this year for every question except “The officer(s) I had contact with made me feel comfortable,” which remained the same as in the 2010 survey (50.5 percent). The largest improvement for police officers (up 4.1 percent) was in response to the question “The officer(s) I had contact with demonstrated integrity” (53.3 percent). The highest positive response was to the question “The officer(s) I had contact with demonstrated professionalism” (59.0 percent). The lowest positive response about officers was to the question “The officer(s) I had contact with helped resolve my situation” (35.7 percent), but it was still 2.8 percent more positive than in 2010

Negative responses about contact with police officers were less negative than in 2010 in all but three questions. Those were “The officer(s) I had contact with demonstrated integrity (22 percent gave a negative response compared with 21 percent in 2010), “The officer(s) I had contact with paid attention to details (28.1 percent gave a negative response compared with 24.3 percent in 2010) and “The officer(s) I had contact with made me feel comfortable (27.5 percent gave a negative response compared with 26.3 percent in 2010.)

When it came to questions about contact with a civilian employee, positive responses improved this year for every question. The largest improvement (up 10.9 percent) was in response to the question “The civilian(s) I had contact with paid attention to details” (69.3 percent). The highest positive response was to the question “The civilian(s) I had contact with expressed interest in helping me” (74.9 percent). The lowest positive response about civilian employees was to the question “The civilian(s) I had contact with showed concern for my safety” (48.8 percent) but it was still 8.0 percent more positive than it was in 2010.

Negative responses about contact with civilian employees were less negative than in 2010 in all but four questions. Those were “The civilian(s) I had contact with expressed interest in helping me” (13.0 gave a negative response compared with 12.2 in 2010), “The civilian(s) I had contact with paid attention to details” (13.6 percent gave a negative response compared with 13.4 percent in 2010), “The civilian(s) I had contact with made me feel comfortable” (13.0 percent gave a negative response compared with 12.5 percent in 2010) and “The civilian(s) I had contact with helped resolve my situation (16.3 percent gave a negative response compared with 16.1 percent in 2010).

Positive responses about overall comfort/satisfaction with the Police Department improved in every category. The largest improvement, which was also the highest positive response in this category, was to the question “I am comfortable contacting the Hawaiʻi Police Department to report a crime” (70.5 percent compared with 63.8 percent in 2010). The lowest positive response in this category was to the question “I am satisfied in the way the Hawaiʻi Police Department responds to crime in my community” (34.4 percent) but it was still 2.2 percent more positive than in 2010.

Negative responses about overall comfort/satisfaction with the Police Department were less negative than in 2010 in all questions but two. Those were “I am confident in the ability of the Hawaiʻi Police Department to serve my needs (35 percent gave a negative response compared with 31.3 percent in 2010) and “I believe the Hawaiʻi Police Department does a good job in keeping the island of Hawai‘i Safe (29.8 percent gave a negative response compared with 27.7 percent in 2010).

The final open-ended comments block was answered by 452 persons. From the most common comments, the Police Department created Frequently Asked Questions with responses from the chief.

(See link to the Frequently Asked Questions and the chief’s responses from the 2013 survey.)