Decatur Launches New Survey Tool to Measure Public Trust and Safety

  

  The City of Decatur and the Decatur Police Department are launching a new public survey tool to better understand local concerns, attitudes, and trust in their local police officers. The survey will appear to local residents on their mobile devices. The tool will enable the Department to more holistically understand local neighborhood issues and enhance their responsiveness to community priorities.

     “This is one of the latest efforts for the Decatur Police Department to remain transparent and focus on citizen satisfaction,” said Deputy Police Chief Brad Allen.

     “We are always striving to get input from residents and this partnership with Zencity will be a great step toward further understanding the feelings and concerns of our residents to make the best decisions for the future of our city,” said City Manager Scot Wrighton.

      “A data-driven understanding of community sentiment and priorities regarding public safety give us a roadmap for constant improvement as we build a safer, fairer city,” said Chief of Police Shane Brandel.

     “I applaud forward-thinking leaders like Chief Brandel and City Manager Wrighton who understand that effective public safety in 2022 requires building trust with the community they serve as part of an overall effort to reduce crime,” said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO of Zencity. “Zencity is proud to support the important work Decatur is doing to understand and prioritize the needs of residents.”

     This initiative builds on an existing partnership between Decatur and Zencity, the community input platform used by local governments to hear from more residents and get meaningful and actionable insights. In addition to conducting previous surveys, since 2019, the city has worked with Zencity to better understand the feedback residents are already voicing about the issues that matter to them the most—whether on publicly available social media channels, comments on traditional news sources, or through official channels like 311—helping the city to hear from all corners of the community. Zencity works with hundreds of municipalities across the U.S. including Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, and San Diego on issues ranging from public safety to American Rescue Plan Act implementation.

     The survey In addition, residents can find and respond to the survey here: https://zencity.info/decatur_il will gather responses by appearing to residents through the use of digital ads in various locations such as news websites, social media platforms, blogs, and apps. Based on responses, the survey will measure resident satisfaction regarding local services and quality of life in the city, while also identifying key concerns residents want the city to address. Zencity surveys incorporate voices from every corner of the community. To do so, Zencity sets response targets based on U.S. Census data about the municipality.

     Zencity ensures the security and privacy of its data and survey respondents. Survey responses are anonymous, unless a respondent chooses to share their email address for follow-up purposes, in which case their survey responses are kept confidential. Zencity does not collect a respondent’s name, address, or any other personally-identifying information. Zencity’s weighting accounts for the responses of every single person who answered a question. The responses give a proportional voice to all demographics (e.g., by age, sex, race, education level, and income level) based on the makeup of the municipality.