Ideas and Suggestions

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR RESPONSES by Monday, October 17, 2017.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE SICK TO GET BETTER. This questionnaire will help the Inglewood Police Department get better and become a National Exemplary Policing Agency. Responses will form the basis of specific recommendations made to leadership by the Josephson Institute of Ethics.  We need your suggestions and opinions on specific things IPD can do to improve service to the community and internal policies and practices to enhance working conditions and strengthen morale. THIS WILL NOT BE A WASTE OF TIME!  CONFIDENTIALITY. Only the Josephson Institute has access to the responses. No attempt will be made to connect any response to the person making it.  If you prefer, you can send your thoughts by email directly to Michael Josephson at msj@jiethics.org.  

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* 1. Rank / Position 

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* 2. Gender

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* 3. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE SUGGESTIONS?  In addition to seeking your original ideas and suggestions, we would like you r opinion on the following suggestions made by IPD sworn and civilian employees during a series of focus groups conducted by the Josephson Institute.  AS TO EACH SUGGESTION PLEASE GIVE US YOUR OPINION ON THE LIKELIHOOD THAT IMPLEMENTATION BY IPD WOULD MEANINGFULLY IMPROVE SERVICE, WORKING CONDITIONS OR MORALE. If you are willing to volunteer personal time to assist in implementing any suggestion, please note that in the comment section below each idea and include your email address.

  Love it! (major impact) Like it (significant impact) Don't like it (minor impact) Hate it! (no impact) No opinion/Neutral (no feeling either way)
15. Group photo.Pictures & Bios.  Arrange regular group photos of all sworn and civilian employees.
18. Visit Workplace and Roll Calls. Encourage supervisors to regularly visit the workplace and/or roll call to interact with employees and observe current working conditions.
21. Welcome New Employees. Establish a practice to assure that all new employees are warmly welcomed to their workplace colleagues and that their photo and bio is circulated to all employees
20. Recruiting. Assign at least one full-time officer to develop and implement an aggressive recruiting program emphasizing the values and culture of the IPD.
2. Meals.  Arrange with local restaurants, health food stores and/or weight loss programs to supply officer healthy meals at economical prices (at officer's expense).
4. Fitness Challenges. Organize, encourage and provide moderate incentives  or encourage with incentives fitness challenges (e.g., daily exercise or steps) or special events (e.g., marathon, 10k run, weight loss contest).
17. Improve Positive Management-Employee Interaction. Encourage managers and other employees to greet and address subordinates and co-workers by name.
24. Optional Training s. Provide sworn and civilian employees with a greater range of optional training opportunities in leadership and in specific subject matter competencies. 
6. Vacations/Recreation. Organize special family and buddy vacation ore recreation trip packages to encourage employees to take annual restorative vacations or other recreational activities.
14. Training. Incorporate into academy, FTO and in-service training info re: impact of stress and fatigue on readiness and provide strategies to develop resilience, manage stress, avoid debilitating fatigue, and maintain a healthy diet.
13. Open House. Restore tradition of an annual community-wide open house inviting all employees to meet community members and describe IPD values and methods.
9. Family Counseling. Arrange with qualified professional family counselors to be available for free off-site sessions to assist employees experiencing partner or parenting problems.
10. Family Support.  Organize family support groups of IPD employees and thier partners to provide needed support to families of IPD employees.
3. Weight Loss Challenges. Organize, encourage and provide moderate incentives for participation of individuals and/or work groups in weight loss contest with weekly or bi-monthly weigh-ins.
12. Family Events. Organize two family events each year for officers and their extended families to provide opportunity to meet and interact with extended IPD family, including command officers.
23. Decentralize Decision Making. Consistent with principles of supervisory accountability, encourage supervisors and command officers to delegate greater authority to allow subordinates to make more decisions without command level involvement.
22. Engagement and Empowerment. Promote employee engagement and develop leadership by encouraging managers to explain the reasons and goals of policy decisions and, where practical, empower employees to offer feedback before decisions are made.
5. Fitness Requirement. In collaboration with officers, develop standards for minimum fitness to assure that officers have the physical capacity to safely and effectively respond to challenges likely to arise in the performance of their duties.
11. Family Orientation. Host bi-annual family orientation events with presentations of IPD domestic partners to inform and counsel families about challenges and strategies to cope with police life.
7. Mental Health Counseling. Provide qualified mental health counselors willing to volunteer to assist IPD employees for off-site meetings and encourage  sessions for employees after who experienced major stressful events. 
19. Ride-Alongs. Command officers should be required to spend at least a half day at least once a year in a patrol car to allow officers to get to know them and assure that the officers have current knowledge of “what it’s like in the street.”
16. Individual Photos and Bios. To make it easier for employees and supervisors to get to know names and faces of others, provide IPD employees access to a data base containing individual photos and bios (provided voluntarily). 
1.  Healthy Food. Make healthy food snacks available at station before and after shifts.
8. Peer Support. Establish peer support groups within the agency to assure that colleagues within the agency are monitoring and prepared to provide needed support to fellow officers in need.

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* 4. Your Suggestions. In the questions below, pease give us specific constructive suggestions as to what IPD can do to improve service to the community, promote the health and wellness of employees and to attract and retain an exemplary workforce of high character and competence. Your suggestions can deal with enhancing pride and mission commitment, promoting the physical and emotional wellness of employees, recruiting, performance, training and/or disciplinary practices. (Please number each separate suggestion).

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* 5. Are These Problems at IPD? The Josephson Institute conducted a national survey of policing professionals to identify issues and concerns. Many agencies reported concern with each of the following issues. In general, how serious or prevalent are the listed problems at IPD? (if you don't know, mark no opinion)

  Major problem Significant problem Minor problem No problem No opinion
1. Officers failing to do what they should do because of fear of criticism, discipline or lawsuits
2. Overemphasis on statistics (e.g., number of arrests) rather than real and meaningful police outcomes.
3. Lack of physical fitness of some patrol officers.
4. Code of silence preventing officers from being accountable and honest re: misconduct of other officers.
5. Abuse of sick days and workers comp benefits.
6. Officer racial or ethnic bias affecting policing actions.
7. Domestic abuse committed by officers.
8. Arrogance, disrespect or abuse of power by officers toward citizens.
9. Arrogance, disrespect or abuse of power by supervisory officers toward subordinates.
10. Indecisiveness of command or supervisory leadership.

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* 6. How often do you experience the following? (The following questions are personal but your responses will help the Josephson Institute formulate recommendations to better serve you and help make IPD a National Exemplary Policing Agency. If you are uncomfortable answering any question just skip it and move on). 

  Almost all the time Most of the time About half the time Occasionally Rarely Never
1. Feel good about what I do.
2. Feel appreciated by the public.
3. Appreciate and like the people I work with.
4. Feel exhausted.
5. Serious tension and conflict at home.
6. Feel inadequate as a spouse or partner.
7. Feel inadequate as a parent.
8. Find time to exercise to stay fit.
9. Feel depressed.
10. High level of anxiety during the work day
11. Difficulty getting to sleep.
12. Get at least 6 hours of restful sleep on work days
13. Get at least 6 hours of restful sleep on non-work days.
14. Sleepiness while on duty.
15. Sleepiness while driving home.
16. Use of alcohol to unwind or relax.
17. Impaired coordination or reaction time on the job or while driving home.
18. Work another job at least 12 hours per week.

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* 7. On average, how much time do you spend daily commuting to and from work?

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* 8. Further comments or suggestions?

END OF SURVEY. THANK YOU

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