COPS Customer Satisfaction Survey

Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2022

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is committed to providing you, our customers, with services that meet your needs. Gathering your feedback helps to ensure that we are delivering on our commitment to you. To this end, we have commissioned the CFI Group, an independent third-party research group, to conduct a ten-minute survey that asks if your COPS Office awards have impacted your community policing efforts and ability to advance public safety. The survey will also help the COPS Office determine your satisfaction with our customer service and identify ways we can improve our services to you.

The CFI Group will treat all information you provide as confidential. All information you provide will be combined with information from other respondents for research and reporting purposes. Although your individual responses will not be released, please do not include any personally identifiable information about yourself or third parties in your submission. This survey will take approximately 10 minutes of your time. The COPS Office is thoroughly committed to providing exemplary service and sincerely appreciates your involvement to help us achieve our goal of continuing to provide quality service. This survey is authorized by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Control No. 1090-0007, which expires September 30, 2021.

Special Note: This survey includes questions on recipients’ experience with the JustGrants system. On October 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice and the COPS Office launched JustGrants. Through a multi-phased development approach, JustGrants will continually be improved to give our customers the best user experience. In addition, a new payment management system called Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) became operational in 2021 and is part of this survey.

The COPS Office is thoroughly committed to providing exemplary service and sincerely appreciates your involvement to help us achieve our goal of continuing to provide quality service.

Please click “next” below to begin the survey.

General Information

1. Which of the following best describes your agency?

   1. Municipal police department

   2. State police department

   3. County police department

   4. Sheriff’s department

   5. Tribal law enforcement agency

   6. Transit police department

   7. School police department

   8. University/College Police Department

   9. Nonprofit organization

   10. Commercial/For-profit organization

   11. School district (K–12)

   12. Other, please specify

2. Which COPS Office awards are you currently implementing? (Please select all that apply.)

1. COPS Anti-Gang Initiative (CAGI)

2. Technology and Equipment Program (TEP)

3. Anti-Heroin Task Force Program (AHTF)

4. COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP)

5. Community Policing Development (CPD) Microgrants

6. Community Policing Development (CPD) Award

   1. Accreditation (Addressing Gaps in State Accreditation, Enhancing Existing Law Enforcement Accreditation Entities, Supporting Law Enforcement Agencies in Seeking Accreditation)

   2. De-escalation (Expansion of Regional De-Escalation Training Centers and Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Grants)

   3. Implementation of Crisis Intervention Teams

   4. Innovations in Recruitment and Hiring

   5. Microgrants (Building Trust and Legitimacy with the Community, Community Violence Intervention, Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism, Officer Recruitment and Retention, Underserved Populations

   6. Tolerance, Diversity, and Anti-Bias Online Training\c

7. COPS Hiring Program (CHP)

8. Collaborative Response Initiative – Technical Assistance (CRI-TA)

9. Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA)

10. Preparing for Active Shooter Situations (PASS)

11. School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP)

12. Tribal Resources Grant Program—Hiring (TRGP-HIRE)

13. Tribal Resources Grant Program—Equipment/Training (TRGP-E/T)

14. Other (Please specify)

15. My agency applied for an award in 2022 but was denied [EXCLUSIVE]

3. [Ask if Q2 = n] Which of the following factors do you think contributed to your agency not receiving an award in 2022? [Optional]

   1. Ease of application system

   2. Complexity of the submission process

   3. Limited time to submit the application

   4. Limited resources (e.g., dedicated grant writer)

   5. Level of competition

   6. Other

4. [Ask if Q2 = n; present on same page as Q3] Please use the space below to provide additional details about your experience applying for a COPS Office award. [Optional] [END SURVEY – SKIP TO THANK YOU PAGE]

COPS Office

5. During the past 12 months, approximately how many times have you been in contact with the COPS Office?

   1. None [Skip to Application Process section]

   2. Once

   3. 2–5 times

   4. More than 5 times

6. During your most recent contact with the COPS Office, what information was discussed? Select all that apply

   1. JustGrants

   2. Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) system

   3. Application assistance

   4. Budget assistance

   5. Award maintenance and implementation assistance (post-award)

   6. Award compliance assistance

   7. Assistance with filing financial reports

   8. Assistance with filing programmatic reports

   9. Award closeout assistance

   10. Available grant funding

   11. Community policing information

   12. Community policing technical assistance

   13. Community policing knowledge resources (, publications, CDs)

   14. Other (please specify)

7. With whom did you have contact from the COPS Office? Select all that apply

   1. COPS Customer Care (Response Center) via email

   2. COPS Customer Care (Response Center) via phone

   3. Program staff

   4. Monitoring/Audit staff

   5. Finance staff

   6. Supervisory staff

   7. Legal staff

   8. Don’t know

   9. Other (please specify)

8. Thinking about the support you received from the COPS Office staff, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Do not randomize]

1. Ease of reaching staff

2. Professionalism of staff

3. Clarity of communication

4. Ability of staff to answer your questions about JustGrants

5. Ability of staff to answer your questions about ASAP

6. Ability of staff to answer your questions about community policing

7. Ability of staff to answer your questions about COPS Office award policies, procedures, regulations, and legislation

8. Ability of staff to answer your questions about a noncompliance issue or to close audit recommendations

9. Ability of staff to direct you to useful COPS Office knowledge resources or information that addresses your concerns

10. Timeliness of receiving requested information

11. Ability of program staff to provide guidance on program implementation.

9. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the staff support you received? [Optional]

Application Process

10. For any of your agency’s COPS Office awards, was the application process completed in the past 12 months?

    1. Yes

    2. No [Skip to Award Management section]

11. Thinking about the application process for the COPS Office, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Randomize]

1. Ease of hearing about COPS Office award opportunities

2. Ease of understanding the COPS Office application guides

3. Ease of completing application online through Grants.gov

4. Ease of submitting application through JustGrants

12. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the application process? [Optional]

Award Acceptance

As previously noted, on October 15, 2020, the COPS Office launched JustGrants, a grants management system. Through a multi-phased approach, JustGrants will continually be improved to give our customers the best user experience. If you received a COPS Office award in FY22 you will be asked questions about your experience using the new JustGrants system.

13. Question: Did you receive a COPS Office award in FY22?

    1. Yes (if yes, answer questions 14–15)

    2. No (if no, skip to question 18)

14. Thinking about after you were notified by the COPS Office that you had accepted an award in FY22, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Randomize]

1. Timeliness of response regarding funding decision

2. Ease of understanding award requirements

3. Ease of obtaining and reviewing award document

4. Ease of signing and accepting award document

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the award acceptance process? [Optional]

Award Management (Post-Award)

14. Thinking about how your award(s) was managed by the COPS Office, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Do not randomize]

    1. Ease of submitting an award extension

    2. Ease of submitting an award modification

    3. Timeliness of obtaining an award extension decision

    4. Timeliness of obtaining an award modification decision

    5. Ease of completing the COPS Office Progress Report

    6. Ease of completing the COPS Office Financial Report

    7. Ease of completing award closeout process

15. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the award management process? [Optional]

Award Monitoring and Audits

14. Has your agency’s COPS Office award(s) been monitored or audited by the COPS Office or the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG) within the last two years?

    1. Yes

    2. No [skip to Financial Management section]

15. Thinking about how your award(s) was monitored by the COPS Office or assistance the COPS Office provided in the resolution of OIG audit findings, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Do not randomize]

1. Usefulness of monitoring site visit or desk review

2. Ease of reviewing the financial aspects of the award(s)

3. Ease of reviewing programmatic aspects of the award(s)

4. Clarity of feedback provided in feedback letter

5. Ease of obtaining assistance in resolving award noncompliance issues

6. Ease of obtaining assistance in understanding OIG audit recommendations

7. Ease of obtaining assistance in developing corrective action plan to address OIG audit recommendations

8. Ease of obtaining assistance in closing out OIG audit recommendations

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the award monitoring and OIG audit resolution process? [Optional]

Financial Management

14. Thinking about the financial management (e.g. submitting SF-425s, drawdowns, etc.) of your COPS Office award(s), on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Randomize]

1. Ease of reaching COPS Office financial staff

2. Professionalism of COPS Office financial staff

3. Timeliness of receiving assistance to resolve issues

4. Ability of COPS Office financial staff to answer your questions about financial issues

5. Ease of completing award financial closeout process

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the financial management process? [Optional]

COPS Office Customer Care

14. Have you had contact with the COPS Office Customer Care Center (Response Center) in the past 12 months?

    1. Yes COPS Office Customer Care Center (Response Center) 800-421-6770

    2. Yes [email protected])

    3. No [skip to Publications section]

15. Thinking about your contact with the COPS Office Customer Care Center (Response Center), on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following. If an item does not apply to you, please select “N/A.” [Randomize]

1. Responsiveness of Customer Care Center staff

2. Professionalism of Customer Care Center staff

3. Ability of Customer Care Center staff to answer your questions

4. Ability of Customer Care Center staff to direct you to COPS Office resources to address your concerns

5. Timeliness of Customer Care Center staff in handling your questions or concerns

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the Customer Care Center (or Response Center) helpdesk process? [Optional]

Publications

14. Have you received or requested any COPS Office publications?

    1. Yes

    2. No [skip to Website section]

    3. Don’t Know [skip to Website section]

15. Who will have an opportunity to read the COPS Office publications? (Please select all that apply)

1. Line officers

2. Supervisory staff

3. Command staff

4. Training academy participants

e. Other

14. Have you had an opportunity to read the COPS Office publication that you requested?

    1. Yes

    2. No [skip to Q30]

15. On a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, how effective have the publications been in increasing your agency’s capacity to do the following? If an item doesn’t apply to you, please select “N/A”. [Randomize]

1. Develop collaborative partnerships with individual and organizational stakeholders in the community

2. Engage in problem-solving to prevent, respond, and/or better analyze crime

3. Institute organizational changes that support the implementation of community policing strategies

4. Improve technological capabilities to prevent and/or respond to crime and disorder incidents

5. Relevant to the needs of your agency?

14. Have you placed an order for a publication through the COPS Office website’s Resource Information Center?

    1. Yes

    2. No [skip to Q32]

15. Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent,” to rate the online ordering system on the following. If an item doesn’t apply to you, please select “N/A”. [Randomize]

1. Ease of finding publication/product

2. Ease of placing an online order

3. Timeliness of receiving orders

14. How did you learn about the COPS Office publications?

1. Website/Electronic library

2. Social media (e.g., COPS Office Facebook, COPS Office Twitter)

3. COPS Training Portal

4. Search engine

5. Flyer

6. Press release

7. Conference

8. Colleague

9. COPS Office staff member recommendation

10. Webinar

11. Other

14. What method did you use to order the publication(s)?

1. Called the COPS Office

2. Downloaded from website

3. Ordered a hard copy on-line through the COPS Office Resource Center

4. Email request to COPS Office Customer Care Center (Response Center)

5. Mailed in order form

6. Don’t know/remember

14. Which of the following methods for ordering publications is your most preferred?

1. By phone

2. Online and download directly

3. Online and order printed copies

4. By e-mail

5. By mail

6. Ordered at an event using a QR code (e.g. a conference)

14. Which of the following is your most preferred format for COPS Office publications?

1. Hard copy

2. On CD with a compilation of other similar publications

3. Downloadable version (for printing or viewing on computer or electronic book)

4. Online only

5. Other, please describe

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the COPS Office publications? [Optional]

15. Since you have received publications from the COPS Office, where would you go to receive publications if the COPS Office did not exist? [Optional]

Website

14. During the past 12 months, have you visited the COPS Office website?

    1. Yes

    2. No [skip to Q41]

15. Thinking about your experience while visiting the COPS Office website, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent”, please rate the following:

1. Ease of navigating the COPS Office website

2. Accuracy of Ask COPS chat feature

3. Usefullness of website content

4. Freshness of content

5. Ability to locate the information being sought

6. Relevant information available on COPS solicitations and awards

14. What, if anything, could the COPS Office do to improve your satisfaction with the COPS Office website? [Optional]

Develop Community/Law Enforcement Partnerships

14. Thinking about the assistance you receive from the COPS Office (e.g. grant awards, publications), please use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent,” to rate the following ways that the COPS Office has helped increase your agency’s capacity to do the following. [Randomize]

1. Share relevant crime and disorder information with community members

2. Actively seek input from the community regarding identifying and prioritizing neighborhood problems

3. Engage the community in the development of responses to community problems

4. Collaborate with other agencies that deliver public services (e.g., parks and recreation, social services, public health, mental health, code enforcement)

Problem Solving

14. Problem solving involves an agency-wide commitment to go beyond traditional police responses to crime to proactively address a multitude of problems that adversely affect quality of life. Using a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent,” please rate how well COPS Office assistance has helped increase your agency’s capacity to do the following. [Randomize]

1. Integrate problem solving into patrol work

2. Identify and prioritize crime and disorder problems by examining patterns and trends involving repeat victims, offenders and locations

3. Improve ability to respond to crime and disorder problems

4. Develop tailored responses to crime and disorder problems that address the underlying conditions that contribute to them

Organizational Change

14. Thinking about the ways in which the COPS Office has helped transform your agency environment, please use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “poor” and “10” is “excellent,” to rate how well COPS Office assistance (e.g., grant awards, publications) increased your agency’s capacity to do the following. [Randomize]

1. Institute organizational changes that support the implementation of community policing strategies

2. Provide knowledge and skills that increase officers’ ability to respond to crime and public safety problems

3. Institutionalize community policing principles into a corresponding set of policies, practices, and procedures

4. Institute community policing agency-wide

Customer Satisfaction Index

14. Thinking about all your experiences to date with the COPS Office, using a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “very dissatisfied” and 10 us “very satisfied,” how satisfied are you with the COPS Office?

44a) Please provide more detail on the reason for your rating. [IF ANSWERED 3 OR BELOW or 8 AND ABOVE]

14. Using a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “falls short of your expectations” and 10 is “exceeds your expectations,” to what extent have your experiences with the COPS Office compared to your expectations?

45a) Please provide more detail on the reason for your rating. [IF ANSWERED 3 OR BELOW or 8 AND ABOVE]

14. Now, imagine the ideal community policing office. Using a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “not very close to the ideal” and 10 is “very close to the ideal,” how does the COPS Office compare to that ideal?

46a) Please provide more detail on the reason for your rating. [IF ANSWERED 3 OR BELOW or 8 AND ABOVE]

Future Behaviors

14. Using a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “not at all likely” and 10 is “extremely likely”, how likely are you to recommend the COPS Office grant program to others?

15. Using a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is “not at all likely” and 10 is “extremely likely”, how likely are you to apply for COPS Office grants in the future?

14. For each of the following, please indicate how useful you believe an informational product or grant program addressing the topic would be to your agency’s capacity to prevent, solve, and control crime within your community. Make one selection per row.

	Not at all useful	Somewhat useful	Very useful
Improving police operations (e.g., recruitment and hiring, crime analysis, organizational structure, implementing technology, field training (PTO), and performance measurement)
Child/Youth safety (e.g., children exposed to violence, school-based policing, preventing teen violence, combating child sexual predators, and internet safety)
Enhancing community partnership with law enforcement (e.g., re-entry, alternatives to incarceration, building trust and legitimacy with the communities they serve, building partnerships with stakeholders, community-oriented government, and private sector practices)
Homeland security / Domestic violent extremism (e.g., role of law enforcement in the investigative and intelligence-gathering process, information sharing, protecting privacy and civil liberties)
Community policing in specific populations and environments (e.g., tribal policing, policing in rural communities, neurodivergent populations, LGBTQ community, older adults, persons with mental illness, people who are unsheltered, andcampus safety)
Nonviolent crimes / Quality-of-life issues (e.g., drugs and drug use, fear of crime, social disorder offenses, public safety in a distressed economy)
Violent crime (e.g., gang violence, gun crime)

14. What other public safety–related subject areas not listed in the previous question would increase your ability to implement community policing strategies to enhance your capacity to prevent, solve, and control crime within your community? [Optional]

Customer Awareness of Other Resources

14. Are there any other federal organizations that you can think of that provide awards or publications to advance community policing and public safety in law enforcement agencies nationwide? If so, please name them. [Optional]

1. Yes

2. No

Future Training Considerations for Award Management

14. Please indicate the type of training or technical assistance you feel the COPS Office might develop or provide to assist you in better managing your awards: (Check all that apply)

1. Application process

2. Award acceptance

3. Award management (post-award)

4. Award monitoring and audits

5. Financial management

6. Navigating in JustGrants

7. Navigating in ASAP

8. Navigating in SAM

9. Other (please specify) [logic: if selected a text box will appear for the write in response]

10. None

Close

Thank you for participating in this survey!

The COPS Office provides award assistance to advance community policing and public safety in law enforcement agencies nationwide. COPS Office awards have increased the number of law enforcement officers interacting with members of the community, provided additional and more effective training to law enforcement officers, encouraged the development and implementation of innovative programs to permit members of the community to assist law enforcement agencies in the prevention of crime, and encouraged the development of new technologies to assist law enforcement agencies in preventing crime.

The COPS Office also provides publication products (such as guidebooks) to law enforcement and community members. COPS Office publications have encouraged the development and implementation of innovative programs to permit members of the community to assist law enforcement agencies in the prevention of crime. You can access these materials on the COPS Office website at https://cops.usdoj.gov.