YONKERS – A survey commissioned by the Yonkers Police finds that most respondents are happy with local law enforcement.

The survey conducted by OrgVitality interviewed 1,868 people in Yonkers in July and August and it found that 84 percent of respondents were satisfied that Yonkers police act professionally.

As for how the police treat the public, 79 percent thought the police were fair.

“Over the past six years, we‘ve worked tirelessly to improve and implement effective community relation programs throughout the city,” said police Commissioner Charles Gardner. “Although we‘re very proud of the survey results, it also provided us an opportunity for improvements.”

Gardner said the improvements will be in the areas of: victim outreach and post-incident follow-up, especially in the Third and Fourth precincts; in business community relations; and in enforcement of public complaints about speeding, reckless driving, disorderly behavior, noise and thefts from vehicles.

The surveyors interviewed people in all four of the city‘s police precincts and an effort was made to a similar number of people in each precinct. The majority of the respondents were between the ages of 25 and 65 and 54.2 percent of the respondents were women.

The surveyors were unsuccessful in capturing Yonkers‘ racial and ethnic diversity in their respondents. About 20 percent of the survey‘s respondents were Hispanic and about 10 percent were black, while the U.S. Census‘ 2015 population estimate puts Hispanics at 35.5 percent and blacks at 17.2 percent of the city‘s population.

Satisfaction with police varied by precinct and income levels.

Respondents in the First Precinct in the city‘s northeast quadrant— the wealthiest part of the city — expressed the highest satisfaction. Respondents from the poorest part of the city with the highest crime — the Third Precinct—had the lowest levels of satisfaction.

Mayor Mike Spano said the police have implemented more than 100 different reforms since he took office six years ago.

“It‘s going to the community and building trust,” Spano said of recent police community initiatives. “If you build trust in the community, you can reduce conflict. If you reduce conflict, you have better policing.”

https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2017/11/03/yonkers-police-survey/829369001/