10,000+ Residents Provide Input on Police Reform Through Councilor's Community Survey
June 16, 2020
City Councilor Pat Davis has shared the results of a citywide survey on policing strategies. The survey, available by email and online from Friday, June 13 through Monday, June 15, 2020. 10,053 completed the survey by Monday night. Respondents included residents from every zip code in the city.
"Our country is coming to a reckoning with the systemic racism inherent in our policing systems, and our city is not immune," says Councilor Davis.
"In a time when options for in-person dialogue is limited, we have to work even harder to include community input into the decisions elected leaders will be called to make in the coming months. That's why we created this platform for input and why I'm proud to share the results with our City," adds Davis.
Councilor Davis, himself a former police officer, initiated the survey after meeting with neighborhood activists and leaders, police union leaders and police staff. The survey asked residents to put themselves in the shoes of a City Councilor asked to balance requests for more police officers and divesting policing from non-law enforcement services.
The proposals, Davis says, were taken from suggestions shared by multiple stakeholders during those community conversations.
The survey found that an overwhelming majority of residents support key oversight and reform initiatives already in place in Albuquerque. They also support prioritizing investments in community building and services over just hiring more police officers; and residents are willing to adapt to reporting non-emergency incidents online or by phone in order to free up officers for calls and make more funding available for community investment.
