UIC Aides Urbana Police Community Survey

Urbana Police will be acting on feedback from the community to improve its procedures and overall contact with the public.

The city is one of those participating in a survey program offered by the University of Illinois at Chicago deigned to establish new benchmarks.

Mailed surveys will go out to people involved in traffic offenses, victims of a burglary, and others connected to non-violent crime. UIC’s Center for Research in Law and Justice will collect and manage the data, which will remain anonymous.

Urbana Assistant Police Chief Sylvia Morgan said by not identifying the person involved, that should provide for better feedback. 

“We don’t get to see who it was that responded a certain way, or what particular officer they might be talking about," he said. "So it kind of gives an overview of how we’re doing as a whole, not specifically and finger-pointing and things of that nature. So I think it’s important that citizens know they remain completely anonymous.”

Morgan said UIC’s reports for the department will include data on officer performance.

The first surveys are expected to go out soon, and the program will remain in place for about seven months. About two-dozen police departments in Illinois are participating in UIC’s program.