CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSESSMENT

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Customer Service Survey Results

A customer service survey was conducted on the services provided by Department of Public Safety at the University of West Georgia. The survey was announced via an e-mail from the Director which was sent to all Faculty, Staff and students. The survey was initiated on October 30^th, 2006 and run through January 3, 2007.

Responses

We received 299 responses, which is approximately 2% of the campus population. The majority of those responding were students (57%), followed by staff and faculty (42%) and non-university members (1%). Women participated 3 times more than males, 73% to 27%. Of those who responded 64% had actual contact with some member of the Public Safety staff while 36% had not.

Of those who had been served by Public Safety, the two most frequent services received were to lock/unlock a door (21%) and assistance with a motor vehicle problem (17%). The least reported services were reporting a crime (10%) and receiving medical assistance (4%). The majority of respondents contacted the Department by telephone (57%) or come to the office (20%).

Results

The goal of the survey was to evaluate the quality of the service provided the University community. The first question asked if the employee who responded to them was courteous? The question was broken down by the position in which the employee serves. This table shows the number of positive and negative responses we received:

Was the Public Safety staff member(s) that handled your situation, courteous?
Position		Yes		No
Dispatcher		77%		23%
Clerk		75%		25%
Parking Control Officer		56%		44%
Uniformed Police Officer		79%		21%
Investigator		77%		23%
Administrator		71%		29%

When asked if an officer responded, “did he/she respond in a reasonable length of time,” 73% advised they did. When asked if the officer presented a professional appearance, 93% answered yes. When asked to rate the overall performance of the Public Safety employee they met, 62% rated them good or excellent while 17% rated them fair with 12%  rating them as poor.

Attitudes on the perception of crime on campus varied. When asked if crime has increased or decreased on campus since you came to West Georgia, 22% said it has increased, 16% said it has decreased and 62% stated they believed it has remained the same. When asked if they have curtailed their activities on campus due to a fear of crime, 26% said yes while 74% stated no. The final section dealing with the perception of crime and its effect asked if the person has thought about switching schools out of a fear of crime at West Georgia. Only 4% stated yes while 96% stated no.

When we attempted to measure the perception of safety on campus between day and night time, the following results were obtained.

When asked if they were concerned about walking across campus during the day, 78% stated they we not concerned. However, at night that number dropped to 18%. Those who stated if they were concerned increased from 17% during the day to 39% at night. Only 3% stated they were very concerned during the day, but that number increased to 38% at night.     

When asked if they were concerned about being a victim of physical assault during the day, 75% said they were not concerned, but that number decreased to 29% at night. Those who stated they were concerned was 18% during the day but that number increased to 32% after dark. Finally, only 4% of respondents stated they were very concerned of being a victim of physical assault during the day, but that number jumped to 33% at night.

Analysis

The rating of the Department’s personnel was overall positive. This is somewhat remarkable considering Public Safety’s unpopular role as enforcer of the parking code and alcohol laws. We received a number of negative comments related to parking. These comments demonstrated that a sizable portion of the campus believes the Department benefits from the parking fines directly and has the authority to construct parking decks but chooses not to do so for monetary reasons. There also is little understanding as to what duties the police division handles and that of parking. The negative attitudes expressed by many shows that the parking issue has tainted the police division’s image with many.

In terms of crime, there is a perception that criminal incidents on campus have increased by 22% of the respondents. However, 16% felt that it has decreased while the majority (62%) believes that it has stayed the same. What is interesting about those who believe that it has risen is that only 10% of those who took part in the survey reported contacting the Department to report a crime. It is undetermined why11% of the people felt crime has increased even though they have not experienced crime personally. This is of course assuming that everyone who has reported a crime answered that they think crime has increased.

One explanation may be that the Department’s policy about informing the campus community whenever a serious crime has occurred both on campus and/or in the surrounding areas may actually give a distorted impression of the level of crime at West Georgia. Our crime statistics do not show an increase in crime (especially violent crime) so an increased awareness may actually fuel the misconception. Something else that the survey has demonstrated is there is a definite concern about crime in the evening hours compared to the daylight hours. Part of this natural, considering people have a fear or suspicion of the dark. However, the numbers show that a significant number of people are concerned and have altered their routine out of a concern for their safety. 26% of those who responded stated that they have limited, changed or curtailed activities out of a concern for crime. Comments noted by the respondents shows concerns about lighting, a desire for security cameras in the parking lots, lack of a visible police presence and how far the parking areas are from Arbor View and the Suites. There were comments made that the campus police would not provide an escort based on comments they had heard or no one was available to provide an escort. Another concern was the emergency phones don’t work or are out for a long period of time without being fixed.

Response

The survey has been helpful in a number of ways. Some used the survey to vent against the Department for the parking situation. Their comments provided no useful information on how we could do our job better. However, a number of the comments though not complimentary did provide us with information that showed where improvements can be made. These include the following:

1. Additional training for our personnel in dealing with angry people and emotionally charged situations. Courses and instructors will be identified and personnel assigned to the classes.
2. Work with SGA and the General University Matters committee to see how to make the Parking Code and Appeals process more equitable. 
3. Better utilize our web site to explain what services we provide.
4. Continue the conversion of the emergency phones from cellular to hardwire whenever possible. Last year we developed a system where the Parking Division checked the phones on a daily basis. Any phones that were out of order were reported to Facilities for repair. We also converted several from cellular to hardwire, which has increased their reliability. Those that can’t be converted to hardwire will be changed out to digital.
5. The concern about a greater visible police presence is more difficult to put an answer to. Last year we were short of police officers and some shifts on certain days only had a single officer working. In the past year we have graduated a number of officers from the academy and now have full shifts. We were also able to restore the Bike Patrol back to full staff so between 7:00pm and 3:00am, we have between 5 and 6 officers working. They ride either bicycles or ATV’s and work in the area of the residence halls. We will examine how these officers patrol and see where we can increase their visibility.
6. We will discuss the feasibility of installing closed circuit cameras in the parking areas around campus and present the findings to the Administration.
7. We will resurvey the campus later this year to see if we can measure our progress.