SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Part A. Justification:
1. Necessity of Information Collection.
On September 13, 1994, President Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-322). Title I of the "crime bill," the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994 (the Act), authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to states, units of local government, Indian tribal governments, other public and private entities, and multi-jurisdictional or regional consortia thereof to increase police presence, to expand and improve cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies and members of the community, to address crime and disorder problems, and to otherwise enhance public safety.
The Community Policing Development program that is funded out of this act is designed to develop and enhance knowledge through applied research activities related to community policing. One award made through this program was to ICF International to develop a community policing implementation self-assessment tool that will significantly advance the ability of law enforcement agencies to determine the extent of their community policing activities. In partnership with ICF International and the Police Executive Research Forum, the COPS Office proposes a new assessment tool package (Community Policing Self-Assessment Tool, or CP-SAT) for use by law enforcement agencies.
2. Needs and Uses
The COPS Office has awarded ICF International a cooperative agreement through the Community Policing Development Program. The purpose of this project is to improve the practice of community policing throughout the United States by supporting the development of a series of tools that will allow law enforcement agencies to gain better insight into the depth and breadth of their community policing activities. These tools are designed to operationalize community policing at various levels of the agency: the officer level, the supervisor level, the command staff level, the cross-agency level, the civilian employee level, and the community level. There are three sections to each version (e.g. officer, supervisor, etc.): one each that captures information related to partnership, problem solving, and organizational change activity. The tools are not designed to measure the impact or outcomes of community policing, but rather collect information on what community policing practices are conducted. Once law enforcement administrators are able to determine what community policing activities are occurring, they can better design their strategic planning, training, outreach, and performance reporting initiatives based on their strengths and areas in need of additional attention.
To date the development, testing, and refinement of the CP-SAT has involved working directly with six test site agencies. Two to three more final test sites will also be used to finalize the online version and to ensure that the draft guidebook provides effective instruction for administering the online version of the CP-SAT. After the online CP-SAT and guidebook is finalized, the COPS Office will sponsor approximately 100 agencies through existing funding that has been provided to ICF International for the purchase of survey software licenses which serve as the CP-SAT platform. ICF will offer their assistance to work with these agencies to provide technical assistance, and survey administration and analysis support. These agencies are expected to complete the survey between Fall 2009 and Spring 2011, at which point the tool will be available online free of charge and federal involvement with the instrument will cease. This PWRA request pertains to the approximately 100 agencies that will receive the CP-SAT software platform free of charge.
Participation in the CP-SAT is purely voluntary, and although we do not know the specific agencies that will be participating we have made estimates on the level of interest in participating across various agency size categories, and this is reflected in our overall CP-SAT burden estimates.
3. Efforts to Minimize Burden
Efforts were made to minimize the burden on respondents. First, this effort is completely voluntary on the part of the individual law enforcement agency. In designing the assessment, questions were carefully considered and efforts were made to avoid duplication. The burden was further minimized through implementation of automated skip patterns so that participants can easily skip over sections that are not relevant to them, as well as an online version that will speed the administration of the tool to each participant.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
There is no duplicative effort. The survey does not duplicate a current information collection instrument.
5. Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Business
There is no significant impact on small business.
6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
A less frequent collection or fewer respondents would not allow sufficient information to perform the appropriate neighborhood assessment.
7. Special Circumstances Influencing Collection
There are no special circumstances that would influence the collection of information pertaining to the Community Policing Self-Assessment Tool.
8. Reasons for Inconsistencies with 5 CFR 1320.6
There are no inconsistencies with this regulation.
9. Payment or Gift to Respondents
No government funds will be used as payment or for gifts to respondents.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
In order to avoid revealing respondents’ identities, the researchers will remove any individual identifiers from the data file, and survey responses will only be reported in aggregate form. Furthermore, the third-party contractor (ICF) will also remove any agency-level identifiers before aggregate data is released to the COPS Office.
The CP-SAT will be administered in an online format using Vovici EFM Community Web-based survey software. Vovici’s survey hosting environment has been designed with security as a foremost consideration, with features such as 128 bit SSL encryption and redundant firewalls. Participant email addresses will be uploaded into the Vovici Community secure Web site and each respondent will be sent a link to the survey via their email address. Although the survey administrators can identify a participant’s survey status (e.g., not started, started, completed), there are no individual identifiers in the data and there is no way to link an individual’s data to their email address. If the respondent does not have an email account, participants can be directed to a URL address via alternate means (e.g., via agency memo with URL address, access to a common computer lab with the site loaded onto each computer). All data exported from the Vovici Community secure Web site will be kept in a secured folder.
11. Justification for Sensitive Questions
There are questions on the survey relating to perceptions of superiors. These questions are a very important component of assessing organizational climate, and participants will be assured of the confidentiality of the survey data. There are no questions of a personal nature on the survey.
12. Estimate of Hour Burden
The CP-SAT is a resource that will be administered only in law enforcement agencies that request to administer it in their agency. While it is difficult to say with certainty which law enforcement agencies will voluntarily participate in the CP-SAT, we made some reasonable estimates based on the distribution of agencies of different sizes who could participate, and therefore the resulting hour burden on those agencies and for the overall CP-SAT effort. The estimated hour burden to respondents within an agency for completing the survey is no longer than one hour for each respondent and the total time burden across all agencies participating is estimated at 7,038 hours (see chart in Section 13 below). Note that the very largest agencies are likely to employ a sampling strategy in administering the CP-SAT, which is reflected in the total time burden.
13. Estimate of Cost Burden
Completing the Community Policing Self Assessment Tool will not generate any costs other than those associated with the respondents’ time. Therefore, the direct cost of the tool is $0.00. Another way to evaluate cost is by the time burden for salaried officers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational Employment estimates that the average hourly wage for a line level police officer is $25.231 and $36.542 for supervisors. We estimate an 8:2 ratio of line level to supervisor officer participation in our survey. We therefore calculate Salary-based Cost of Burden using a mean hourly wage of $27.49. Given the figures for Total Time Burden, the estimated Salary-based Total Cost of Burden across all agencies covered under this request is $193,474.62.
Time and Cost Burden Estimates
A.
Population Served |
B.
Total # Agencies |
C.
% Agencies Taking CPSAT
|
D.
# Agencies Taking CPSAT
(B x C) |
E. Average # of Officers per Agency |
F. % of Officers per Agency Taking CPSAT
|
G. # of Officers taking CPSAT = Time Burden per Agency
(E x F) |
H. Total # of Officers Taking CPSAT= Total Time Burden
(D x G) |
I.
Total Salary-based Cost of Burden3
(H x $27.49) |
250,000+ |
71 |
5% |
4 |
2,150 |
20% |
430 |
1,720 |
$47,282.80 |
100,000- 249,999 |
181 |
5% |
9 |
290 |
50% |
145 |
1,305 |
$35,874.45 |
50,000- 99,999 |
441 |
4% |
17 |
121 |
100% |
121 |
2,057 |
$56,546.93 |
25,000- 49,999 |
806 |
2% |
16 |
63 |
100% |
63 |
1,008 |
$27,709.92 |
10,000- 24,999 |
1,826 |
1% |
18 |
31 |
100% |
31 |
558 |
$15,339.42 |
<10,000 |
7,787 |
.005% |
39 |
10 |
100% |
10 |
390 |
$10,721.10 |
Total |
11,112 |
0.9% |
103 |
|
|
|
7,038 (Sum of H.) |
$193,474.62 (Sum of I.) |
14. Estimated Annualized Cost to Federal Government
There is no estimated annualized cost to the Federal government. The form and survey results will be processed by the grantee.
15. Reason for Change in Burden
No changes, proposed new collection.
16. Publication
At the end of the project, ICF International, Police Executive Research Forum, and the COPS Office will develop a guidebook to assist local law enforcement agencies in implementing the survey. The guide book will provide background information on CP-SAT and detailed suggestions for implementation that are intended for the individual(s) directing the CP-SAT effort within an agency. It is divided into two main sections, the first of which includes an overview of the self-assessment process and tool, reasons for implementing the self-assessment, and the structure of the tool. The second section provides technical guidance for completing the assessment. It focuses on the planning process, implementing the tool, data analysis and interpretation, reporting, and strategic and action planning for the future. The guide also includes a resource section to assist agencies with strategic and action planning resulting from the self-assessment process.
Information about the resource and about the development experience will be reported in the publication and will also be submitted to police-related journals and magazines, as well as professional conferences. In the event that numerous agencies administer the CP-SAT, summary statistics may be submitted for publication and/or presentation, but no identifiable information will be included.
Request not to Display OMB Control Number
The COPS Office will display the OMB approval number and expiration date on the upper right hand corner of the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement
COPS does not request an exception to the certification of this information
collection.
Part B. Statistical Methods
Part B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
The CP-SAT effort will require the employment of only descriptive statistical methods.
B.1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods
The CP-SAT is a purely voluntary effort, so COPS will not be determining sampling methods. We do, however, provide some guidance on sampling in the corresponding Users’ Guide.
There are five groups of individuals who are intended to complete the survey within each participating agency: Officers, Supervisors, Command Staff, Civilian Staff, and Community Partners (specific individuals with whom the agency has a recognized partnership, not the general public). The CP-SAT Users’ Guide recommends that the survey be administered to all personnel and to all key community partners for agencies with 200 line officers or fewer. The Guide introduces the concept of sampling and provides general methodological information on concepts such as stratified random sampling and sample size for consideration by agencies with more than 200 line officers. Ultimately agencies choosing to implement the CP-SAT will choose whether or not a sampling strategy is appropriate, and what strategy to employ.
B2. Procedures for the Collection of Information
The CP-SAT will be administered in an online format using Vovici EFM Community Web-based survey software. Vovici’s survey hosting environment has been designed with security as a foremost consideration, with features such as 128 bit SSL encryption and redundant firewalls. Participant email addresses will be uploaded into the Vovici Community secure Web site and each respondent will be sent a link to the survey via their email address. Although the survey administrators can identify a participant’s survey status (e.g., not started, started, completed), there are no individual identifiers in the data and there is no way to link an individual’s data to their email address. If the respondent does not have an email account, participants can be directed to a URL address via alternate means (e.g., via agency memo with URL address, access to a common computer lab with the site loaded onto each computer). All data exported from the Vovici Community secure Web site will be kept in a secured folder.
Agencies that are interested in participating in the CP-SAT contact the COPS office via email or phone to express interest. A phone meeting between the COPS office, ICF International, and the interested agency is then scheduled to discuss the purpose of the CP-SAT, technological considerations, and details regarding the administration of the CP-SAT. Specifically, the technical considerations discussed are whether agency staff have access to a computer and an email address. In this phone meeting, the following pieces of information are requested from the interested agency to allow ICF International to administer the CP-SAT:
Email addresses provided to ICF & CP-SAT form appropriate for each participant
Name & email from who the assessment distribution email should be sent
Assessment distribution email language
Reminder email language
Assessment timeline (i.e., data collection begin date, reminder date, end date)
The first two to three sites that contact ICF and commit to administering the CP-SAT will comprise the final test sites.4 For these test sites and the other agencies covered under this request, the interested agency is instructed to send these materials to ICF International team members, where it will be stored in a secured folder. ICF International will administer the CP-SAT in an online format using Vovici EFM Community Web-based survey software. Vovici’s survey hosting environment has been designed with security as a foremost consideration, with features such as 128 bit SSL encryption and redundant firewalls. Participant email addresses will be uploaded into the Vovici Community secure Web site and each respondent will be sent a link to the survey via their email address.
Emails to participants will include the following statement prominently displayed notifying them of the confidential nature of their surveys:
“Your responses to this survey will be kept confidential. There are no individual identifiers in the data that your agency will receive, and the agency will not be able to link an individual’s responses or data to their email address.”5
This email will look like it came from the name and email address supplied by the agency in #2 above. Although the survey administrators can identify a participant’s survey status (e.g., not started, started, completed), there are no individual identifiers in the data and there is no way to link an individual’s data to their email address. If the respondent does not have an email account, participants can be directed to a URL address via alternate means (e.g., via agency memo with URL address, access to a common computer lab with the site loaded onto each computer). All data exported from the Vovici Community secure Web site will be kept in a secured folder.
ICF International will prepare a Microsoft Excel report of summary data for each agency that participates in the CP-SAT. The report will use bar charts, pie charts, and tables to report the average percentage of agency staff who selected each answer choice on a group of similar questions (e.g., general problem solving). The report will be individualized for each agency, so that the report only describes that agency’s data. The individualized Microsoft Excel report will be provided to the Chief of Police or Sheriff and it is up to him or her to determine whom he/she makes the data available.
ICF International team members will use the draft user’s guide to help administer the survey, revising as appropriate based on the experiences in following the user’s guide instructions. Participating agencies will be asked to provide feedback on the administration, including additional information they would have liked to know or any improvements they suggest for the administration. The feedback will be used to revise the user’s guide that will be provided publicly for free to agencies along with the survey questions in the future.
At the conclusion of the data collection covered by this request, ICF will make agency-level data available to the government with identifying information removed from the data set (also see description in Section A.10 above). This data could be useful in identifying areas of need of community policing assistance and resources, and for conducting large-scale research on the state of community policing implementation across different community policing dimensions.
B3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with Issues of Non-Response
Because this is a voluntary resource, COPS will not be involved in the collection of data. In the CP-SAT Users’ Guide, however, we provide tips for increasing response rate within an agency. These tips include:
Chief should stress the importance of the self-assessment process and participation in completing the forms.
Gain support and “buy in” from each of the groups—officers, supervisors, and command staff—as well as police union leadership or other organized labor bodies. Support from these individuals and groups should be sought at the outset of the project.
Training/orientation for agency personnel who will be asked to complete the assessment tool form will enhance the overall response rate and reduce the problem of incomplete forms being submitted.
Respondents should be notified in advance that the assessment tool form will be distributed and that they will be given adequate time to complete the form.
Respondents should be assured that their responses will be handled in a confidential manner.
Respondents should be given reminders to complete the assessment tool forms. If necessary, provide new copies of the form instrument each time.
Offer to provide the respondents a summary report of the results of the self-assessment process.
Convey how the results will be used to make positive changes, as well as to promote the work being done by the agency and its staff.
B4. Tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken
To date, the researchers have conducted four pilot tests of the content of the survey in law enforcement agencies across the country. Researchers also conducted a usability test of the online format in one law enforcement agency in Gaithersburg, MD. Based on responses and the analysis of findings, improvements were made to both the content and the online format.
B5. Individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and organization/persons collecting and analyzing the data.
Rebecca R. Harris Mulvaney, Ph.D.
Manager
Applied Organizational Research
ICF International
(703) 934-3582
Lance Anderson, Ph.D.
Vice President
Applied Organizational Research
ICF International
(703) 934-3674
1 US Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational Employment, 33-3051 Police Sheriff’s Patrol Officers, http://www.bls.gov/OES (May 2008)
2 US Bureau of Labor Statistics Division of Occupational Employment, First-line Supervisors/ Managers of Police and Detectives,
33 http://www.bls.gov/OES (May 2008)
4 In the final testing phase, the ICF and COPS team will use their experiences to update and finalize the guidebook. For purposes of the test site process, the process of administering the CP-SAT will be the same as for those who take the CP-SAT after the guidebook testing has been completed. However we will be asking for feedback on the process from these final sites, though it will be the ICF/COPS project team’s experiences in applying the guidebook instructions and following the process that will inform any changes and updates to the guidebook.
5 We can only protect the confidentiality of those respondents covered under this collection. The CP-SAT will be more widely distributed and therefore we decided against including any statement on the forms themselves, as those forms may be distributed outside of this survey process.
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | karen beckma |
| Last Modified By | lbryant |
| File Modified | 2009-08-07 |
| File Created | 2009-08-07 |