Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection eComments Requested; New Collection; Perceptions of Safety and Police-Community Relations, 9750-9751 [2015-03702]

Agencies

• Department of Justice

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 36 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9750-9751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03702]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1103-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; New Collection; Perceptions of Safety and Police-
Community Relations

AGENCY: Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, Department 
of Justice.

ACTION: 60-day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (DOJ), Community Oriented Policing 
Services (COPS) Office, will be submitting the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until 
April 27, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments 
especially on the estimated public burden or associated response time, 
suggestions, or need a copy of the proposed information collection 
instrument with instructions or additional information, please contact 
Kimberly J. Brummett, Program Specialist, Department of Justice, 
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, 145 N Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20530 (202-353-9769).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of 
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of 
the following four points:
    --Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau of 
Justice Statistics, including whether the information will have 
practical utility;
    --Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    --Evaluate whether and if so how the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected can be enhanced; and
    --Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

[[Page 9751]]

Overview of This Information Collection

    1. Type of Information Collection: New Collection; Perceptions of 
Safety and Police-Community Relations.
    a. The Title of the Form/Collection: Survey of Resident Perceptions 
of Safety and Policing & Survey of Officer Perceptions of Policing and 
Department/Organization.
    2. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection: None. U.S. Department of 
Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office.
    3. Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract:
    The affected public who will be asked to respond to the surveys 
include:
     Community residents of the CRI-TA site over the age of 18;
     Sworn and non-sworn police officers; and
    The information collected through the two respective surveys is to 
establish a baseline to measure the impact of technical assistance 
given to Collaborative Reform Initiative (CRI) sites to advance 
community police and improve community confidence in the police. The 
four technical assistance providers (The Police Foundation, the Center 
for Naval Analyses (CNA), Institute of Intergovernmental Research 
(IIR), and Hillard Heintze) or one or more survey administration 
organizations will utilize each of the two surveys at one point in time 
for two different populations. The surveys will be administered prior 
to the application of technical assistance (or shortly thereafter) to 
establish a baseline of public and police perception of safety, 
community policing, and police-community relations. The data collected 
will cover one point in time in 2015 to establish this baseline. The 
survey results will not be used to draw conclusions that can be applied 
to the entire nation, but rather only for sites COPS chooses to provide 
technical assistance, so a nationally representative sample is not 
recommended. However, the surveys can be used in any municipality or 
region in the United States. To enhance site sustainability, the 
surveys will serve as tools for CRI sites (and future COPS community 
policing sites) to monitor their own change efforts and progress over 
time. Sites will be encouraged to administer the same survey tools at 
varying time intervals in order to compare pre- and post-technical 
assistance perceptions. The sites can infer the impact of technical 
assistance as well as their own capacity to sustain change. The 
community resident survey should over-represent those who have or 
likely have had contact with the police in that locality, determined by 
arrest rates by zip code or neighborhood delineation, race, and 
ethnicity. The police survey will be disseminated to all sworn and non-
sworn officers. The detainee survey shall be comprised of a convenience 
sample of those who have had recent contact with the police in that 
locality.
    4. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of 
time estimated for an average respondent to respond: An estimated one 
to five percent of members of each community will take part in the 
Survey of Resident Perceptions of Safety and Policing. The COPS Office 
estimates 50 sites over the approval period of this collection. Based 
on previous use of the survey at the Program in Criminal Justice Policy 
and Management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard 
University (PCJ), the estimated range of completion for respondents is 
expected to be between 10 minutes to 15 minutes for completion. An 
estimated 15% of police officers of each agency will take part in the 
Survey of Officer Perceptions of Policing and Department/Organization. 
The COPS Office estimates 50 sites over the approval period of this 
collection. Based on previous use of the survey by the PCJ, the 
estimated range of completion for respondents is expected to be between 
15 minutes and 20 minutes. Of the detainees offered the opportunity to 
participate, an estimated 20-25% of detainees will agree to participate 
in the Survey of Detainee Perceptions of Policing. Based on previous 
use of the survey the PCJ, the estimated range of completion for 
detainee respondents is expected to be between five minutes and 10 
minutes.
    5. An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: Surveys will be disseminated to respective CRI 
sites pre-technical assistance to gather baseline data. For the 
approval timeframe of this collection, the COPS Office estimates that 
it will administer the survey to 50 community and agency sites:
    The COPS Office estimates that it will administer 400 community 
member and 100 officer surveys per site:
     400 surveys x 50 sites (20,000 surveys) x 20 minutes = 
6,667 hours.
     100 surveys x 50 sites (5,000 surveys) x 20 minutes = 
1,667 hours.
    The total estimated burden associated with this collection is 8,334 
hours.
    If additional information is required contact: Jerri Murray, 
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, 
Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE., 3E.405B, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: February 19, 2015.
Jerri Murray,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2015-03702 Filed 2-23-15; 8:45 am]
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