KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
—
The Overland Park Police Department is turning to technology to create better communication with the community.
The department now sends out text message surveys following calls for service, giving callers the opportunity to rate their interactions with both officers and dispatchers. The goal is to gather real-time feedback that helps shape department policies, improve service and recognize officers for positive work.
“It gives us the ability to open up more lines of communication with our community,” said OPPD Capt. Richard Breshears. “When we talk about the massive volumes of calls for service that we go on, we may have missed that in the past where this technology fits that need.”
The survey consists of just four quick questions. Just two weeks into the program, Breshears said it’s already exceeding expectations.
“Their expectation on return rate was right around 30%, and we're sitting about 46%,” Breshears said. “It's showing that, hey, what we're doing 92, 93% of the time on these surveys is right.”
Positive responses are passed along to the officers involved, and negative feedback is routed to the appropriate supervisors for review. However, the department said these surveys are not a replacement for formal complaints.
“Anytime you get that thank you or a positive rating, I think we do help overall morale of our department members,” Breshears said.
Looking ahead, Breshears said future updates to the system could allow for more advanced features like notifying a caller if an officer is delayed or suggesting next steps while waiting for help to arrive.
“It's direct feedback from the lives that we're impacting every day,” Breshears said.
