Giving Compass' Take:

• Cities are beginning to collect data about public sentiment on policing to improve their public relations, but struggle to translate feedback into changes on the ground. 

• How can philanthropy support departments trying to respond to public perception? What are the potential pitfalls when it comes to tracking public opinion? 

• Learn about policing a city in crisis


Three weeks into his new job as commanding officer of Manhattan’s 20th precinct, Captain Timothy J. Malin stared at a map on his computer screen, puzzled. It showed his jurisdiction carved up by streets and parks, with the southern edge encased in an ominous shade of red.

For decades, the New York Police Department has used real-time statistics to chart spikes in violence and calibrate police activity across the city. This map, however, displayed not crime data but something new in the arsenal of police metrics: public approval. The crimson on Malin’s map indicated that some residents in his precinct, the Upper West Side—one of New York City’s wealthiest and safest neighborhoods—reported feeling little trust in his officers. It was Malin’s job to figure out why.

Though it’s still in a development phase, the sentiment meter has already drawn the attention of the Los Angeles Police Department; Elucd has been measuring public opinion of the police department across the California metropolis since October. The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan has also signed on, and starting August 1st, Elucd will be working with the Chicago Police Department.

But even the person who ordered the tool’s creation, former NYPD Police Commissioner William J. Bratton, expressed concerns about how to effectively use it.

Read the full article about public sentiment on policing by Simone Weichselbaum at The Marshall Project.