photo by: Journal-World photo illustration

Story updated at 7:30 p.m. July 13, 2018.

The results of a community survey indicate that most Lawrence residents of color think Lawrence police are biased against their community.

The City of Lawrence commissioned Allegro Training & Consulting to conduct the survey and related analysis in July 2017. The online survey was voluntary and anonymous, and 774 responses were received. About 125 respondents indicated they were black, Hispanic, mixed race or Native American, according to a summary presentation created by Allegro.

Of the survey respondents who were black, 52 percent said they think the Lawrence police department is biased against them or their community, according to the summary. Of the Hispanic people who participated, 55 percent responded that they think the Lawrence police department is biased against them or their community. Mixed-race and Native American respondents had similar results, with 47 percent and 44 percent respectively responding that they think the LPD is biased.

Beth Clark, CEO of Allegro Training and Consulting, said she thinks that the responses given by people of color reflect historical relationships between those communities and police, including the disproportionate number of black and Hispanic males who are killed by police or incarcerated.

“People understand this reality, that healing needs to be done with those communities and that without that kind of healing, the belief systems and realities between the police and people of color are going to continue and continue and continue,” Clark said.

The survey asked respondents to identify their race, gender, sexual orientation, income and whether they were disabled. Clark noted that about 200 respondents did not indicate their race, and while she said she would not call the 125 responses from people of color insignificant, she also said the more significant result is the broad consensus on what best practices for police should be.

For instance, 95 percent of respondents said they were in favor of mandatory officer stress, emotional health and safety training, and 93 percent said they were in favor of anti-bias training and cross-cultural communication training, according to the summary. In addition, 85 percent of respondents were in favor of body cameras and 75 percent were in favor of data collection from traffic stops.

Lawrence NAACP Chapter President Ursula Minor said the survey results related to police bias are in line with what she’s heard from people of color in the Lawrence community. Minor noted that when the NAACP did its own survey in 2016, it saw similar results. She said that following the survey, the NAACP requested that the city begin collecting race data on police stops, among other requests.

“People obviously are still feeling the same way, and I feel like it’s urgent to push all of these requests forward,” said Minor, adding that it won’t be a cure-all but that data is needed to even begin addressing the issues. “There obviously is a problem, and you need that data to work with, to find out how you’re going to deal with it, or what you’re going to do about it.”

Following the NAACP survey, the organization also asked the city to revamp the community police review board and to implement body cameras for police. Both of those requests are underway, with the City Commission having already approved the creation of a new board and funding for a body camera program. Both are expected to be implemented this year.

Last week, City Manager Tom Markus provided updates to his recommended budget. Those included a $50,000 increase in expenditures for a disproportionate minority contact study, relating to rates of law enforcement contact for different groups. The study would be done in partnership with Douglas County.

Fewer white and high-income respondents indicated that they thought the police department was biased against them, and there were some relatively positive responses from all subgroups. For white respondents, 20 percent said they think the Lawrence police department is biased against them or their community.

In addition to best practices and the existence of bias, the survey asked Lawrence residents to assess their interactions with local police and included questions about use of force, handling of complaints and recruitment.

Specifically, the survey asked people to rank their overall interactions with the Lawrence police department on a scale of 1 to 10. For all 10 subgroups of results, the average rank of interactions fell between a five and seven.

Among all 10 subgroups, one area of relative consensus dealt with whether Lawrence police communicate respectfully. More than half of respondents in all subgroups indicated communication was respectful. The most favorable responses were from white and high-income respondents, where 75 percent of respondents indicated that communication was respectful. More than half of black, Hispanic, mixed-race and Native American respondents indicated that police communicate respectfully. The least favorable responses were from transgender and nonbinary respondents, where 53 percent indicated that communication was respectful.

Clark said she saw those responses as generally positive, but also said there was still an opportunity for improvement. She said that while most people felt they were treated respectfully, the desire is for police to be more engaging, friendly and accessible.

Most respondents in seven of the 10 subgroups indicated that the Lawrence police department is a positive presence in their community. The exceptions included black, Hispanic and mixed-race people, in which 39, 46 and 45 percent respectively indicated police were a positive presence.

It has been 10 months since the survey was completed, and some members of the public have criticized the delay in the report’s release. Markus announced Tuesday that the city would post the report. He said at the time that the city had not previously released the report because city staff still considered it to be a draft and that the city was reviewing the report and contract to determine if the contract’s terms had been met. The city previously denied the Journal-World’s request to obtain a copy of the survey results or any related report on the grounds that the report was still being finalized.