Survey Sheds Light on LGPD

The City of La Grange partnered with Texas A&M University’s Texas Target Communities Program to develop a strategic action plan for the La Grange Police Department. Representatives from Texas A&M presented a draft of the plan to the City Council at a meeting Monday night, Feb. 27.

“This has been a process we’ve been working on for the past 12 months,” said Jeewasmi Thapa, senior program coordinator with Texas Target Communities.

“We try to understand the needs and identify some priorities,” she said. “Basically this plan is meant to be a five-year guiding document that identifies the vision for the police department, what the priorities are, and also building on the existing goals that the police department has.”

Thapa’s team along with City staff conducted a survey that asked community members about their satisfaction with the police department, problems in the community, the department’s performance, feelings of personal safety and suggestions for police improvement. Thapa said the City received 187 responses.

The survey results revealed the following:

• 74 percent of respondents were satisfied with the overall performance of the police department; • 51 percent say LGPD pro-actively prevents crime a lot or to a great extent;

• 46 percent believe LGPD pro-actively addresses traffic issues a lot or to a great extent;

• 48 percent believe LGPD develops relationships with community members a lot or to a great extent;

• 29 percent believe LGPD provides opportunities for community input a lot or to a great extent;

• 52 percent believe LGPD regularly communicates to the community a lot or to a great extent;

• 26 percent rated officer response time as poor or fair;

• 78 percent said they agree or strongly agree with the statement “I feel safe and secure in La Grange.”

Thapa said respondents identified drugs as the biggest police problem in La Grange, followed by traffic issues and lack of communication with the public. Thapa said the survey also asked respondents what can the police department do to improve services.

“Two big themes emerged,” Thapa said. “One was they wanted more patrol around the community, more officers and more visibility in the community. The other thing was having more opportunities to engage with police officers – so more community outreach and educational events with the department.”

Thapa said her team used the feedback to develop strategies for the police department to improve.

“Violent crime in La Grange is a small portion of overall crime,” said Sam Fowler, a Texas A&M intern who worked on the plan. “But when you compare the violent crime rate in La Grange to Texas or the United States as a whole, it’s slightly higher. Most of these cases are domestic violence or sexual assault. So the first strategy is to deal with those cases.”

Fowler said the task force identified school safety as a top priority, and he said there are many grants and other funding sources available for increasing school safety.

“Probably the top thing we heard from residents was to increase patrols around the City, especially around the parks,” Fowler said.

Other recommendations included the following:

• Implementing a citizen oversight board to improve accountability in the community;

• Increase communication between police and the community, especially with local youth;

• Begin a youth police academy to increase engagement with local children;

• Identify a staff member or contract with a third party to seek grants for police funding;

• Assign a crime prevention officer to help residents and businesses secure their property.

Police Chief David Gilbreath said his department has already implemented some of the recommendations. Gilbreath said his department is training an officer to serve as a crime prevention officer. In addition, he said the department has assigned another officer to work on grant funding opportunities.