THUNDER BAY — The 2019 Thunder Bay Police service Citizen Satisfaction and Trust Survey is underway.
The survey which was developed for the police service by Dr. Leisa Desmoulins, an assistant professor in Lakehead University's Department of Aboriginal Education.
The 2018 satisfaction survey showed that youth, Indigenous people and other racialized individuals tended to have less trust in police than other citizens.
Citizens can participate in the survey online.
Lakehead University researchers will also be going door-to-door to conduct surveys.
In all cases, participants will remain anonymous, and responses will be handled confidentially.
The survey lasts until Nov. 1, 2019.
After analysis by an LU research team, the results will be released early in 2020.
About 2,200 people took part in last year's survey.
Desmoulins said she'll be looking to see if the response rate this year is better, and if the survey is becoming more representative of the city's demographics.
She said the survey is important because it gives a chance for citizens to give their perceptions of police, and gives police good information about how they are doing.
Desmoulins feels a crucial part of the exercise is hearing from people "who aren't going on line."
"Ideally, I'd love to see that 400 citizens are willing to take our in-person survey," she said Monday at a news conference to launch the initiative.
Last year, the team conducted about 200 in-person interviews.
"We didn't hear from a lot of Indigenous and other racialized peoples in the 2014 and 2016 surveys. So we're really looking to hear the voices of the people who haven't gone online to do the survey."
The questions in this year's survey are identical to last year.
Desmoulins said that's because the study team wants to make sure the responses from last year are consistent with this year's.
"The first time you do a survey, you don't really have a sense of whether or not that has to do with external circumstances... This allows us to narrow in and be able to see that the responses are either consistent or different, and then whether or not the survey is useable with this sample," she said.
The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Thunder Bay Police Service communications director Chris Adams said police appreciate the survey because it connects them with the public "and gives them a chance to tell us directly, with some independence, how we're doing."
Adams said the Thunder Bay Police Services Board will also be able to use the feedback in developing the police service's next strategic plan.
