"Assessments of the Rhode Island State Police"

by Darrell West, Taubman Center for Public Policy, Brown University

May, 2001

 

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Methodology

Overall Assessments

Breakdowns by Sex

Breakdowns by Race

Breakdowns by Age

Breakdowns by State Residence

Breakdowns by Barracks

Breakdowns by Type of Contact

Improving Highway Safety

Appendix

I. Survey Questions and Responses

II. Open-Ended Comments on Improving Safety

 

Executive Summary

This report examines public attitudes towards the Rhode Island State Police. Using telephone interviews conducted May 5-9, 2001 with 372 people who in calendar year 2000 received a traffic citation, filed an accident report, or contacted the State Police to report an incident or offense, we looked at a variety of performance areas: courtesy, demeanor, response time, knowledge, clarity, sense of fairness, and overall service rating. We also asked those who came in contact with the State Police for suggestions about how to improve highway safety. The report was commissioned by the State Police.

Among the highlights of the survey are the following:

1) 83 percent gave the State Police an excellent or good rating in terms of the overall service that was received,

2) 88 percent believed the officer(s) they dealt with was courteous, while 92 percent felt the officer(s) had a professional demeanor,

3) 87 percent thought the State Police was knowledgeable and 86 percent indicated they received clear explanations about what was happening,

4) 86 percent felt they were treated fairly by the State Police,

5) 87 percent believed the State Police responded to accidents and offenses in a satisfactory amount of time,

6) there were few differences in attitudes based on sex, race, or state residence,

7) there were some age differences with younger people giving the State Police lower marks for overall service, fairness, and courtesy than was the case with older people,

8) there is some difference in overall service ranking based on barracks. The highest rated barracks was Portsmouth (88 percent), followed by Hope Valley (86 percent), Headquarters and Wickford (tied at 85 percent), Chepachet (79 percent), and Lincoln Woods (78 percent).

9) individuals receiving traffic citations were the least likely to think they had been treated fairly (77 percent) relative to those involved with accident reports (88 percent) and incident reports (85 percent).

10) the most common suggestions for improving highway safety were greater visibility, putting more patrol officers on the road, watching for speeders, controlling road rage by drivers, and increasing the number of officers.

Methodology

This study was based on 372 telephone interviews conducted with people who received a traffic citation, filed an accident report, or contacted the State Police to report an incident or offense. Respondents were randomly selected by Taubman Center personnel from the universe of people who dealt with the State Police during calendar year 2000.

Interviews were undertaken by trained and supervised callers at the Taubman Center for Public Policy of Brown University between May 5-9, 2001. Several callbacks were made to people who were not at home at the time of the initial phone call in order to insure that everyone in the sample had a chance to answer the questions.

The margin of error in this survey is around plus or minus 5 percentage points. This means that a percentage of 88 percent could range as low as 83 or as high as 93 percent.

We looked at a variety of performance areas: courtesy, demeanor, response time, knowledge, clarity, sense of fairness, and overall service rating, and asked for suggestions about how to improve highway safety (see Appendix I for list of survey questions and responses).

The characteristics of those responding to this survey is shown below in Table 1:

Table 1 Demographic Description of Survey Respondents

 

 

Sex

 

-male

58%

-female

38

Age

 

-18-24

16

-25-34

21

-35-44

27

-45-54

18

-55-64

8

-65+

7

Race

 

-white

82

-african-american

4

-hispanic

4

-asian-american

2

-native american

2

-other

3

State Residence

 

-inside Rhode Island

84

-outside Rhode Island

16

Overall Assessments

We looked at a variety of performance measures in regard to the State Police. As shown in Table 2, the State Police receives high marks across every performance area measured. The highest evaluations came in regard to professional demeanor, where 92 percent felt the officer(s) they dealt with was very professional or professional. Only five percent believed the officer was unprofessional and three percent offered no opinion.

Eighty-eight percent said they officer they dealt with was courteous, while 9 percent said the officer was not courteous, and three percent had no opinion. Eighty-seven percent felt that the officer was knowledgeable (41 percent said very knowledgeable and 46 percent said knowledgeable) while 5 percent said the officer was not knowledgeable and 8 percent gave no opinion.

Of those who filed an accident or incident report, 87 percent were satisfied with the amount of time it took the officer to respond, and 9 percent were not satisfied. Eighty-six percent believed the officer was clear in explaining the situation, 86 percent felt they were treated fairly, and 83 percent gave the State Police an excellent or good rating overall. Nine percent claimed the overall service was only fair, six percent felt it was poor, and 2 percent did not know or gave no answer.

Table 2 Assessments of the Rhode Island State Police

 

 

Professional Demeanor

92%

Courtesy

88

Knowledge

87

Satisfactory Response Time on Accidents and Incidents

87

Clarity

86

Fairness

86

Overall Service Rating

83

Breakdowns by Sex

There were no significant gender differences in assessments of the State Police. Table 3 breaks down the views of males and females in assessments of the State Police. For example, in overall service rating, 84 percent of men and women give officers an excellent or good rating. The category where there was the largest difference based on gender was clarity. Ninety percent of women compared to 84 percent of men indicated officers gave them clear explanations of what was happening.

Table 3 State Police Assessments by Sex

 

 

 

 

Male

Female

Professional Demeanor

92%

93%

Courtesy

89

89

Knowledge

88

92

Response Time

88

86

Clarity

84

90

Fairness

87

85

Overall Service Rating

84

84

 

Breakdowns by Race

There were no significant racial differences in assessments of the State Police. Table 4 breaks down the views of whites and minorities in assessments of the State Police. For example, in overall service rating, 85 percent of whites give officers an excellent or good rating, compared to 79 percent of minorities. There was some difference in intensity of sentiment on overall service ratings. Whites were more likely to give excellent (50 percent) than good (35 percent) ratings, while minorities were more likely to give good (49 percent) than excellent (30 percent) assessments. Eight percent of whites and 16 percent of minorities rated the State Police as only fair, and 6 percent of whites and 5 percent of minorities rated the State Police as poor.

Table 4 State Police Assessments by Race

 

 

 

 

Whites

Minorities

Professional Demeanor

92%

91%

Courtesy

89

88

Knowledge

88

86

Response Time

87

91

Clarity

88

88

Fairness

87

84

Overall Service Rating

85

79

Breakdowns by Age

Overall, older people give the State Police higher marks than younger people (see Table 5). While 96 percent of those 65 years and older rate officers excellent or good, only 67 percent of those 18 to 24 years old do. Younger respondents are less likely to say their treatment was fair (79 percent) than senior citizens (96 percent). Those aged 18 to 24 are less likely to say officers were courteous (79 percent) compared to those 65 years and older (96 percent).

Table 5 State Police Assessments by Age

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

Demeanor

86%

92%

91%

97%

91%

96%

Courtesy

79

94

89

88

87

96

Knowledge

81

91

89

90

90

85

Response Time

85

91

85

84

88

92

Clarity

79

92

83

88

90

88

Fairness

79

95

84

87

84

96

Overall

Rating Rating

67

88

87

84

84

96

Breakdowns by State Residence

There were few significant differences in assessments of the State Police based on whether the person lived inside or outside of Rhode Island. Table 6 breaks down the overall service rating by state residence. Eighty-three percent of those living in Rhode Island give officers an excellent or good rating, compared to 85 percent of those living outside the state. Non-Rhode Island residents, however, were more satisfied with response time. Ninety-six percent of those indicated they were satisfied with the amount of time it took the State Police to respond, compared to 86 percent of those living within the state.

Table 6 State Police Assessments by Residence

 

 

 

 

Rhode Island

Outside Rhode Island

Professional Demeanor

92%

98%

Courtesy

88

95

Knowledge

87

95

Response Time

86

96

Clarity

86

88

Fairness

86

85

Overall Service Rating

83

85

Breakdowns by Barracks

There is some difference in overall service ranking based on barracks. As shown in Table 7, the most highly rated barracks was Portsmouth (88 percent), followed by Hope Valley (86 percent), Headquarters and Wickford (tied at 85 percent), Chepachet (79 percent), and Lincoln Woods (78 percent).

In terms of fairness, the barracks ranking included: Portsmouth and Wickford (tied at 92 percent), Lincoln Woods (88 percent), Headquarters (84 percent), Chepachet (83 percent), and Hope Valley (80 percent).

Table 7 State Police Assessments by Barracks

Chepachet4

Hope Valley

Lincoln Woods

Portsmouth

Wickford

Headquarters

Demeanor

92%

91%

88%

95%

93%

94%

Courtesy

85

88

87

90

89

97

Knowledge

86

91

87

82

91

91

Response Time

83

87

87

83

91

100

Clarity

86

87

82

88

86

91

Fairness

83

80

88

92

92

84

Overall

Rating Rating

79

86

78

88

85

85

Breakdowns by Type of Contact

There are some differences in State Police assessments based on whether the contact was a traffic citation, accident report, or incident report (see Table 8). Overall service ratings were higher for accident and incident reports (84 percent each) compared to traffic citations (77 percent). And individuals receiving traffic citations were the least likely to think they had been treated fairly (77 percent) relative to those involved with accident reports (88 percent) and incident reports (85 percent).

Table 8 State Police Assessments by Type of Contact

Traffic Citation

Accident Report

Incident Report

Demeanor

94%

92%

91%

Courtesy

94

86

91

Knowledge

85

86

92

Response Time

NA

88

83

Clarity

92

85

87

Fairness

79

88

85

Overall

Rating Rating

77

84

84

 

 Improving Highway Safety

In order to give respondents a chance to make suggestions, we asked them what the State Police could do to improve highway safety. Appendix II lists all of their suggestions. The most common suggestions that were made included: greater visibility, putting more patrol officers on the road, watching for speeders, controlling road rage by drivers, and increasing number of officers. A number of people did not answer the question or felt the State Police already was doing a lot of improve safety.

Appendix I. Survey Questions and Responses

Hello, I'm calling from the Center for Public Policy at Brown University. Can I speak to _____? We are conducting a study of people's experience with the Rhode Island State Police, and we'd really appreciate your help. (if individual not home, terminate interview politely and ask when you can call back).

Do not ask, but code gender of respondent: 58% male, 38% female, 4% don't know

In your dealings with the Rhode Island State Police this past year, were you treated courteously by the officer(s) you dealt with? 88% yes, 9% no, 3% don't know or no answer

Was the trooper's demeanor at the time 49% very professional, 43% professional, 5% unprofessional, 3% don't know or no answer

If you called to file an offense report or were involved in an accident, were you satisfied with the amount of time it took to respond? 87% yes, 9% no, 4% don't know or no answer

Would you say the trooper you dealt with was: 41% very knowledgeable, 46% knowledgeable, 5% not very knowledgeable, 8% don't know or no answer

Did you receive a clear explanation about what was happening? 86% yes, 11% no, 3% don't know or no answer

Did you feel you were treated fairly? 86% yes, 11% no, 3% don't know or no answer

How would you rate the overall service you received? 47% excellent, 36% good, 9% only fair, 6% poor, 2% don't know or no answer

What can the Rhode Island State Police do to improve the safety on our highways? (open-ended responses)

Which of the following age group are you in? 16% 18-24, 21% 25-34, 27% 35-44, 18% 45-54, 8% 55-64, 7% 65 or older, 3% no answer

Are you: 82% white, 4% African-American, 4% Hispanic, 2% Asian-American, 2% Native American, 3% other, 3% don't know or no answer

Do not ask, but code from top of call sheet whether person: 13% received traffic citation, 51% filed accident report, 34% filed offense report, 2% don't know

Do not ask, but code from top of call sheet whether state police barracks was: 19% SPC State Police Chepachet, 21% SPHV State Police Hope Valley, 15% SPLW State Police Lincoln Woods, 16% SPP State Police Portsmouth, 19% SPW State Police Wickford, 9% SPHQ State Police Headquarters, 1% don't know

 

Appendix II. Suggestions for Improving Highway Safety

No suggestions

Don't know

Don't know

No suggestion

No suggestions

Don't rear-end us civilians. Watch where you're driving... y

No suggestions

Increase officers on patrol

No suggestions

No suggestions at this time.

They should react more promptly to hazardous situations on o

No suggestions.

No suggestions.

Stop people when they see them on the sides of highways.

More police.

Increase patrol.

They're is nothing that can be said. They are already doing

They already do a pretty good job.

They're already doing a good job.

It's the people who are creating the problem, they should re

Make people slow down.

They are already doing a good job.

Random car stops. Check for driver's license more oten.

Be more efficient.

At the time of an accident, get both sides of the story and

Keep a close eye on people who are under the influence of al

No suggestions.

Improve the time they take to get to the accident point.

Well on one hand you have people who drive too slow... they

Catch the guys that go really fast - especially those people

Fix pot-holes - I had a flat tire due to a pot hole, which l

No answer

They're already doing a good job with patrolling the highway

Control erratic driving by police and by others.

Road construction at high traffic hours without warning - ma

Be around more to catch people who run red lights dangerousl

Don't pull commuters over for speeding during rush hour.

Be more visible.

A lot of stuff slides by... so many violations or dangerous

Quit racial profiling. On any given day, at the Connecticut

They're doing a fine job already... I have no suggestions

Get rid of the cars --- too much traffic

Have more troopers posted where I-95 merges with I-4

No comment

Does not think the highways are that bad

Check that are kids and other passengers are wearing seatbel

Put more police cars out on the road

Try harder to prevent road rage

don't know

Put more troopers on the road

patrol more and be seen more

dont know

the speed limit changes drastically

they are doing a good job, cant think of anything they could

dont know

no idea

not up to them, but could improve maintainance on I-95

nothing

maintenance of the highway is important, but doesnt see how

not speeding themselves. it would improve their visibility a

dont know, feels that the highways are as safe as they can b

nab drunk drivers, especially in Newport

dont know

enforce drunk driving laws

enforce speed limit and laws

dont know

dont know

nothing

they do a good job

patrol more

give more tickets for cell phones and illegal lane changes

dont know

the state police can stop speeding themselves

more patrolling

nothing

dont know

Plow it in the winter.

This would take me a couple weeks to brainstorm ... for now,

If pulling someone over, please go completely off the road..

Watch out for and clear debris on highways and on-ramps. The

Treat people more equally... people I've known who were stop

No suggestions

Mark their cars or put more marked cars on the road... becau

More policemen - they're understaffed. I'm a retired policem

The State Police should be honest... but I don't know how or

none

depends on the drivers

none

no suggestions

there could stand to be more of them

none

stricter laws about DWI (including drugs), truck driver laws

put more troopers on highways. scare people into driving slo

shouldn't cut people off when they are trying to stop speede

none

none

stop harrassing regular guys - no quotas.

ROAD CONDITIONS SHOULD BE IMPROVED

don't know

they do fine

i don't know

i don't know

speed traps

less pseeding tickets

watch out for speeding

get the drunk people off the road

be more careful and extensive in monitoring for speeding

be more polite

stay off the highway

no idea.

Stop the speeders.

Straigten out Servers (spelling?) Avenue.

They are fine.

Highways are pretty safe as it is. They should stop Racial P

not try to intimdate and humiliate.

Nothing.

Slow traffic down.

Less traffic violations.

No answer.

Salt the roads more.

Give tickets to people who drive too slow. More routine patr

Keep the road debris free.

He feels that speeding is a problem.

No answer.

No Answer.

Be out more during peak hours

No Answer.

No Answer

No Answer

They are doing great, everything within their power they are

enforce speed limit and laws

dont know

dont know

nothing

they do a good job

patrol more

give more tickets for cell phones and illegal lane changes

dont know

the state police can stop speeding themselves

more patrolling

nothing

dont know

more traffic signals particularly route 1

increase presence

when they stop people of color they should treat them like h

don't park on the side of the road anymore because they caus

don't know

control speeding

stay off the highways during rush hour

enforce the set laws better

enforce the speed limit more

put more troopers on the highways

monitor speeding better

no comment

road rage

nothing

Don't treat people rudely when they ask for help and be on t

They could be hiding out more along the highways. Everyone k

stop drunk driving, stop those who speed, drive without regi

Nothing I can think of at the moment

No complaints at all

Younger drivers - keep an eye on them... not just on highway

No idea

Be consistent with stopping people - Some people don't get s

Control road rage

Increase availability in areas where there are no State Poli

Be aware of aggresive drivers. High speeds are okay as long

I'm satisfied with the quality of the State Police in the Wa

No clue

don't know

just bethere when needed

be morevisible

don't have toom any interactions with them and cannot say

less patrools and interaction

don't know

more exposure of them

put more troopers

dont know

be more visible, but they're doing just fine now too

more patrools cars

be more visible

they're doing just fine

put more troopers on the roads

be more visible

i don't know

no opinion

doesn't know

does not agree with the new policies and laws pertaining to

get more of those undercover people

doesn't like the way they lay and wait to trap people, have

too much speeding, crack down on it

doesn't know, could be a lot more courteous to all people

post more patrol cars

crack down on aggresive driving

has no idea

provide better markers for barriers

doesn't know

doesn't know

enforcing the speeding and the seat belt laws

no answer

go after agressive drivers and tailgaters.

get rid of the senior citizens

treat people who are younger the same as they treat older pe

raise the speed limit and not give tickets

they do a very good job

no opinion

no immediate answer

don't know

Give tickets to people who don't use signals.

No comments.

No suggestions.

No comments.

I'm already satisfied with what they do.

They're already doing a good job.

I'm not sure.

More police enforcement.

That's a tough one. I can't say.

More undercover cars on the highway.

Stay off them.

make the roads better.

Watch out for speeders and tailgaters.

Feel the state police do a great job, in general, keep up wi

They could stop driving on them!

No Answer

No answer

road conditions

No answer

Woman is afraid of uniforms after growing up in India. She t

The highway are very safe as they are. State Police do a gre

no response

more training

no response

no response

be on rte 10 and 95 between 6 and 7 am to enforce the speed

don't pick up jackets in the middle of the road caused an ac

watch people talking on cell phones, especially young driver

no response

don't know

no answer

no answer

get lunatics off highways

they need more policemen on the road because people are so i

add a lane to 146

get old people and recent people from country off the roads

should be nicer to people so people won't get nervous around

should be more checks on friday and saturday around midnight

doing good job

think they're doing a good job

monitor speed at night

more radar stops, but are satisfied

no ideas

doing their job

teach the people in the cars that motorcylces can't stop for

make their presence more known

thinks it's OK now

be more visable - slow people down

need more patrols,need to have more cars on the highways to

Do something about the DOT and keeping the roads clear. Many

don't know.

More speed traps, people are going to fast.

nothing

not really using the highways.

The patrols should be increased in order to be a deterant.

DON'T KNOW

ok

less speed traps

nothing

nothing

Nothing

Regardless of seriousness of accident, all info should be ta

Fix the Roads!

Nothing really

No idea

Control road rage - people are so impatient and unforgiv ing

Set up a commission to research what safety improvements can

Reduce the towing fee.

Nothing I can think of... I think they're already handling t

Control drunk driving

Be more visible

No answer

Don't know

When pulling someone over, don't do it in the middle of the

No idea

More presence - he doesn't enough of them around

eliminate straightening out (?)

i don't know, nothing

more patrools

not to pull people over that often for no violations

speeding limitations

speeding

i don't know

more patrools

i don't know

road raging limitations

nothing

can't do anything

can't do anything

cell phones limitations

road rage attention speeding limitations

make sure people use seatbelts

they are doing enough

they should listen to both sides of the automobile accident

better manage out of state drivers and trailer trucks that b

they should crack down on people not signaling, minor infrac

take all the men off the roads

not sure

road construction is a problem, better notification to drive

don't know

not quite sure

can't think of anything

the highways are safe already

nothing more than what they're doing. they're doing an excel

make sure people wear seat belts

i don't know

nothing, they're doing a pretty good job. likes the idea of

stop road construction in the middle of the day

I don't know

Doing a good job

need more state police to monitor what is going on

Don't know

Leave it as it is

They do an excellent job, drivers need to be improved

Increase monitoring of speeding

Everything is fine

Take the cell phones away from drivers

crack down on truck drivers who are careless

watching out for speed limit violators

doing what they need to do

doing all they can do

don't know

CHANGE on/of ramps because they cause accidents

stop more people who are speeding to prevent accidents

make sure roads are cleared after accidents to prevent other

don't know

Continue to highways to make sure poeple drive safely

have been doing well as far as she knows

Better communication with driver about situation (e.g why be

don't know

Nothing to say.

More enforcement to control speed control.

There should be speed control. If the speed limit is 55 mile

Nothing to say.

Nothing to say.

No comments.

Not sure.

I'm not sure. I'm not a resident of Rhode Island.

As far as I can say is that you can give out more tickets.

That's a togh question. Only had one encounter with an offic

I don't now. I didn't have that much experience, besides one

I don't know.

nothing

improve roads

no comment

dont know

dont know

road quality