Form 1327 Law Enforcement Supervisor Survey

OMB Control No. 2127-XXXX

Expiration Date XX/XX/XXXX

Appendix D2

Law Enforcement Supervisor Survey

DISPLAYED ON FIRST SCREEN:

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to document attitudes, resources, and challenges related to traffic safety enforcement. The results of the study will be used to develop an understanding of agency resources and priorities and to develop programs designed to improve traffic safety enforcement. A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is XXXX-XXXX. Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be approximately 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Information Collection Clearance Officer, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E., Washington, DC, 20590

This survey is sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This survey is about law enforcement officer attitudes, resources, and challenges related to traffic safety enforcement. This survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your name and responses will never be linked to your answers. We will treat your answers as private and confidential and none of your responses will be reported back to your agency. You may also refuse to answer any questions. If you have any technical questions about the study, you may contact Tim Flanigan, RTI International at 1-800-334-8571 or 2-7743, James Higgins, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at PHONE. If you have any questions about your rights as a study participant, you may contact RTI’s Office of Research Protection at 1-866-214-2043.

Do you agree to participate?

1. YES [GO TO A1]

2. NO [CONTINUE]

END. Thank you very much for your consideration. If you have any questions or concerns about this research project, please contact Tim Flanigan, RTI International at 1-800-334-8571 or 2-7743

I. Professional Profile:

A1. What unit do you supervise at your agency? _____________________________________________

A2. Have you ever supervised a traffic enforcement unit?

1. YES - Currently

2. YES – In the past

3. NO

A3. How long have you been a supervisor at your current agency

1. Less than 1 year

2. 1 year to less than 3 years

3. 3 years to less than 5 years

4. 5 years to less than 10 years

5. 10 years of more

A4. What percentage of time do you spend…?

a. Supervising officers [ ] %

b. Conducting traffic enforcement [ ] %

c. On patrol [ ] %

d. Conducting investigations [ ] %

e. On administrative duties [ ] %

f. All other tasks [ ] %

__________

100% Total

II. Motivation:

B1. To what extent do you agree or disagree that the following factors motivate officers to issue citations…	Strongly Agree	Agree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
a. Ensuring citizens obey the law	O	O	O	O
b. Emphasis from agency command staff to make traffic stops	O	O	O	O
c. Emphasis from agency first line supervisors to make traffic stops	O	O	O	O
d. Emphasis from external sources to make traffic stops (e.g., pressure from city / county / state government)	O	O	O	O
e. External motivators / public pressure (i.e. pressure from media , public response / demands)	O	O	O	O
f. Internal motivators (e.g. family member hurt or killed in an accident involving a truck with DOT violations or in a DUI accident)	O	O	O	O
g Increase safety of the community / safety of motorists	O	O	O	O
h. Enforcing traffic laws to help deter future traffic safety violations	O	O	O	O
i. Enforcing traffic laws to help deter future criminal activity	O	O	O	O
j. Personal satisfaction – knowing that they made a difference	O	O	O	O

B2. What level of emphasis do you place on officers in your unit to enforce traffic laws as a means for identifying more serious criminal offenses (i.e pretext stop)?

1. Heavy emphasis

2. Moderate emphasis

3. Low emphasis

B3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement:

More serious traffic law violators, such as repeat DUI or reckless driving offenders, are more likely to engage in criminal activity.

1. Strongly Agree

2. Agree

3. Disagree

4. Strongly Disagree

B4. On average, who would you say issues a larger number of traffic citations…

1. Officers with more years of experience

2. Officers with fewer years of experience

3. Makes no difference in terms of years of experience  (GO TO QUESTION B6)

B5. Please explain why you selected your response to B4? _____________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

B6. To what extent does your agency’s budget influence traffic enforcement in your unit / department?

1. Very much

2. Somewhat

3. Not very much

4. Not at all

B7. Does your agency employ the following High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) equipment?	Yes	No
a. Decoys (e.g., empty squad cars)	O	O
b. Message boards	O	O
c. Portable speed limit detectors	O	O
d. Road signs (e.g. speed zone)	O	O
e. Other: PLEASE SPECIFY:________________________________________	O	O

B8. Does your agency conduct traffic enforcement checkpoints or help conduct checkpoints in partnership with other agencies?

1. YES

2. NO  (GO TO QUESTION B10)

B9. How often are these checkpoints operated?

1. Once a week

2. A few times a month

3. Once a month

4. Every few months

5. Every six months

6. Once a year or less often

B10. What challenges does your agency face in traffic safety enforcement? Select all that apply.

1. Staffing

2. Competing department priorities

3. Lack of funding

4. Lack of equipment

5. Lack of training

6. Not applicable – My agency does not face any challenges that impact traffic enforcement

7. Other: PLEASE SPECIFY: ____________________

B11. How often do the officers you supervise engage in community outreach in an attempt to educate the public regarding traffic safety?

1. Very often

2. Often

3. Not very often

III. Attitude:

C1. In general, how confident are you that issuing a warning will change future driver behavior?

1. Very confident

2. Confident

3. Somewhat confident

4. Not at all confident

C2. In general, how confident are you that issuing a citation will change future driver behavior?

1. Very confident

2. Confident

3. Somewhat confident

4. Not at all confident

C3. Please consider the following reasons for not stopping a vehicle when a traffic violation was observed. To what degree do you feel this is a valid reason?	Very much	Somewhat	Not very much	Not at all
a. Limited time, such as staffing shortage or high call volume	O	O	O	O
b. Location of violation not conducive to allowing stop (e.g., no safe location for driver to pull over or other motorists to drive around stopped vehicle)	O	O	O	O
c. Concern for officer personal safety (e.g., poor lighting, no safe area to approach stopped vehicle, no back up available)	O	O	O	O
d. Engaging in proactive duty that takes priority over traffic enforcement (e.g., directed patrols)	O	O	O	O
e. Dislike interacting with frustrated drivers	O	O	O	O
f. Enforcement of particular observed violation is time consuming / complicated	O	O	O	O
g. Uncertainty about the law being broken (e.g. commercial vehicle violations)	O	O	O	O
h. Observed a very minor infraction	O	O	O	O
i. Weather conditions	O	O	O	O
j. Other: PLEASE SPECIFY:___________________________________	O	O	O	O

C4. How often does concern of time intensive involvement after issuing a citation (e.g. subpoenas / testifying in court) impact an officer’s decision to write a citation?

1. Always

2. Often

3. Sometimes

4. Rarely

5. Never

C5. Would you say traffic enforcement is more important, about the same level of importance or less important in relation to the following duties?	Traffic enforcement is more important	Traffic Enforcement is about the same level of importance	Traffic enforcement is less important	NOT APPLICABLE
a. Directed patrols (e.g., daytime patrol in residential areas to prevent burglaries)	O	O	O	O
b. High visibility presence (e.g., occupying problem area while conducting another task, like finishing a report)	O	O	O	O
c. Citizen field contact	O	O	O	O
d. Engaging in problem solving policing for specific issue / area	O	O	O	O
e. Community-oriented policing (COP) such as interacting with the public	O	O	O	O
f. Parking enforcement and control	O	O	O	O
g. Commercial vehicle traffic safety enforcement	O	O	O	O
h. Other: PLEASE SPECIFY__________________________________	O	O	O	O

C6. What level of priority do you place on officers to stop a driver for the following violations regardless of whether or not they issue a citation?	High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority
a. Speeding – Less than 10 MPH over posted speed limit	O	O	O
b. Speeding – 10 MPH or more over posted speed	O	O	O
c. Driver not wearing seatbelt	O	O	O
d. Front seat passenger not wearing seatbelt	O	O	O
e. Distracted driving	O	O	O
f. Following another vehicle to closely	O	O	O
g. Equipment issues (window tinting, nonfunctioning head lamp / tail light, etc.)	O	O	O
h. Loud noise – music / muffler	O	O	O
i. Improperly restrained child	O	O	O

C7. What level of priority do you place on officers to cite a driver for the following violations regardless of whether or not they issue a citation?	High Priority	Medium Priority	Low Priority
a. Speeding – Less than 10 MPH over posted speed limit	O	O	O
b. Speeding – 10 MPH or more over posted speed	O	O	O
c. Driver not wearing seatbelt	O	O	O
d. Front seat passenger not wearing seatbelt	O	O	O
e. Distracted driving	O	O	O
f. Following another vehicle to closely	O	O	O
g. Equipment issues (window tinting, nonfunctioning head lamp / tail light, etc.)	O	O	O
h. Loud noise – music / muffler	O	O	O
i. Improperly restrained child	O	O	O

C8. Does your department have a written and enforced policy against racial profiling?

1. YES

2. NO

IV. Training and Resources:

D1. Do supervisors receive any specialized traffic safety training not required of line officers?

1. YES

2. NO  (GO TO QUESTION D3)

D2. Please describe: ____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

D3. Does your department provide any traffic safety in-service training?

1. YES

2. NO  (GO TO QUESTION D6)

D4. IF D1=1: Training on what topics? Please describe: _______________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

D5. Is the training conducted by this agency or at another facility?

1. Training conducted at this agency

2. Training conducted at another facility

D6. What type of training should your agency offer for traffic safety enforcement? __________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

D7. Do you believe there are new or emerging traffic safety issues that are not being adequately addressed through training?

1. YES

2. NO  (GO TO QUESTION D8)

D7a. Please describe the traffic safety issues that are not being addressed? ________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

D8. What additional information or resources, if any, does your agency need to effectively enforce traffic laws? _______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

V. Dissemination / Communication:

E1. Relative to your officer’s other duties, what level of importance does your agency command staff place on traffic enforcement?

1. High importance

2. Moderate importance

3. Low importance

4. No importance

E2. Relative to your officer’s other duties, what level of importance do you place on traffic enforcement?

1. High importance

2. Moderate importance

3. Low importance

4. No importance

E3. To what degree do you understand the priorities established within your agency, in terms of traffic enforcement, relative to your other responsibilities?

1. I understand the priorities completely

2. I mostly understand the priorities

3. I somewhat understand the priorities

4. I do not understand the priorities

E4. Who relays these priorities to you?	Always	Sometimes	Rarely	Never
a. Other Sergeants / Supervisors	O	O	O	O
b. Command staff / Mid-level managers	O	O	O	O
c. Chief / Sheriff / Head of agency	O	O	O	O

E5. To what extent do you agree with the priorities established within your agency in terms of traffic enforcement?

1. Very much

2. Somewhat

3. Not very much

4. Not at all

E6. For the next question, consider short-term and long-term staffing shortages at your agency.

To what degree would a staffing shortage have on your emphasis of traffic safety enforcement?

1. Very much

2. Somewhat

3. Not very much

4. Not at all

E7. Does your agency collect traffic stop demographic data (e.g. race, ethnicity, etc.)?

1. YES

2. NO

VI. Demographics:

F1. What is your current age?

1. 24 OR YOUNGER

2. 25 – 34

3. 35 – 44

4. 45 – 54

5. 55 – 64

6. 65 OR OLDER

F2. Sex:

1. MALE

2. FEMALE

F3. How many years of experience do you have in law enforcement?

1. Less than 1 year

2. 1 year to less than 3 years

3. 3 years to less than 5 years

4. 5 years to less than 10 years

5. 10 years to less than 15 years

6. 15 years or more

F4. How many years of experience do you have at your current agency?

1. Less than 1 year

2. 1 year to less than 3 years

3. 3 years to less than 5 years

4. 5 years to less than 10 years

5. 10 years to less than 15 years

6. 15 years or more

F5. What is your current position? You may select one or more.

1. Traffic

2. Patrol

3. Investigations

4. Specialized enforcement (e.g., traffic, narcotics, intelligence, K-9, SWAT, etc.)

5. Training

6. Administrative

F6. For how many years have you been in your current position?

1. Less than 1 year

2. 1 year to less than 3 years

3. 3 years to less than 5 years

4. 5 years to less than 10 years

5. 10 years to less than 15 years

6. 15 years or more

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NHTSA Form 1327