Pulse of Concord — Survey looks at police and race in Concord
My survey on race and police covered a lot of difficult issues.
It was the longest survey, at 26 questions, and also had the highest response rate: 562 in the shortest period – 45 days.
There were some surprising answers and areas for further discussions, as well as a call to rephrase some of the questions. As usual, the same questions were accused of being biased in opposite directions. And as usual, some suggestions hit home on how things could have been better worded. As always, I encourage people to send me suggested topics and questions.
You can find more complete responses on my Facebook page: Pulse of Concord, Nextdoor in District 2 or directly from me at EdiBirsan@gmail.com.
The cross tabulation, that is taking one set of responses in one question and then tracing how that group responded elsewhere, is interesting and may be covered more in a future column. Suggested data dives are welcomed.
Police should be assigned to high schools in Concord.
- 24 percent, strongly agree.
- 20, agree.
- 23, neither agree nor disagree.
- 15, disagree.
- 17, strongly disagree.
- 1, do not care
With 44 percent agreeing, 32 percent disagreeing and 23 percent in the middle, this is an interesting divisor in the community. The school district removed the police for budget reasons, not ideological reasons.
If the number of police officers in Concord were reduced, crime would go up.
- 62 percent, agree.
- 18, disagree.
- 20, do not know.
When you hear “Defund the police” from Black Lives Matter rallies, what is the first thing that you think they are saying?
- 23 percent, abolish the police forces and spend the money on other things.
- 19, significantly reduce the police force size in all cases and areas and spend the money on other things.
- 28, significantly reduce the things that the police respond to and spend the money on other things.
- 22, they are mad at all police and their functions.
- 6, I have no idea of the details of what they are talking about.
- 1, do not want to answer.
Overall, Black Lives Matter speaks for me.
- 16 percent, strongly agree.
- 13, agree.
- 12, more times agree than disagree.
- 10, disagree.
- 5, more times disagree than agree.
- 35, strongly disagree.
The people of Concord are racist.
- 3 percent, strongly agree.
- 12, agree.
- 21, neither agree nor disagree.
- 23, disagree.
- 30, strongly disagree.
- 13, do not know.
- 1, do not want to answer.
The 15 percent that agree are 62 percent self-identified as white.
I believe that the Concord police will treat all people equally.
- 38 percent, strongly agree.
- 26, agree.
- 17, neither agree nor disagree.
- 12, disagree.
- 8, strongly disagree.
A white Concord police officer can deal with a non-white individual fairly.
- 35 percent, strongly agree.
- 38, agree.
- 18, neither agree nor disagree.
- 4, disagree.
- 4, strongly disagree.
- 1, do not want to answer.
When asked which crimes/situations the police should not respond to, there was a problem in wording. I probably should been said “investigate” rather than respond since there were several questions about calling 911, so there may have been confusion. The following areas are where there is support for sending someone other than a police officer, though who still remains to be worked out as well as some real head-shaking about what people are thinking.
- 60 percent, neighbor noise.
- 54, homeless encampment on private property.
- 51, blocking sidewalks.
- 37, blocked roadways.
- 32, fraud.
- 29, lost child/adult.
- 27, vandalism.
- 25, elder abuse.
Generally, at least 10 percent were opposed to any response by police.
While Edi Birsan is a mild-mannered City Council member at times (very few times), this is his personal survey for the last 10 years and is not associated with the city of Concord or any other organization and represents his views and not that of anyone else, including Dr. Fauci. Write to him at EdiBirsan@gmail.com or go to his Facebook page, Pulse of Concord. To take part in a future survey, go to www.pulseofconcord.com