OPO analyzed survey data to:
- Determine whether respondents were in favor of OPO’s proposed changes to APD’s body-worn and dashboard camera policies;
- Identify overarching themes in responses; and
- Learn more about the communities OPO is reaching through surveys, including demographic information, past interactions with APD officers, and knowledge of APD policy.
The two key insights from OPO’s analysis of the survey data were as follows:
1) Most respondents were in favor of each OPO recommendation.
- 66% of respondents believe the City should request and use public feedback when writing rules.
- 61% of respondents want the body-worn and dashboard camera program to include more community input.
- 66% of respondents believe community involvement positively impacts government accountability.
- 61% of respondents support updating APD policies to emphasize the City of Austin’s commitment to reducing racial profiling and improving community relationships.
- 69% of respondents believe police department policies should provide clearer definitions and guidelines when laws are unclear.
- 66% of respondents support revising APD policies to provide officers with clearer instructions for when they must stop recording audio and video with their cameras.
- 62% of respondents believe police officers should be required to acknowledge their use of body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras in a police report.
- 58% of respondents believe APD should provide instructions for officers to use when telling community members that their interaction is being recorded.
- 67% of respondents believe APD policies should require supervisors to make sure dashboard cameras and body-worn cameras are in working condition and being used correctly.
- 61% of respondents believe potential violations of the body-worn camera and dashboard camera policies should require an investigation.
2) Paper surveys captured more individuals who identified as low-income and had a higher percentage of individuals who identified as Black or African American. In addition, the analysis revealed interesting variations in participation for respondents who identified as male or non-binary/genderqueer/genderfluid.
Below are a few examples of findings from this comparative analysis. Further data is available here.
- % Respondents identifying as low-income
- 27% of paper survey respondents
- 4% of digital survey respondents
- % Respondents identifying as male
- 54% of paper survey respondents
- 39% of digital survey respondents
- % Respondents identifying as non-binary / genderqueer / genderfluid
- 9% of paper survey respondents
- 2% of digital survey respondents
- % Respondents identifying as Black or African American
- 23% of paper survey respondents
- 4% of digital survey respondents