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Mr. Kelly expressed gratitude to the commission for taking on the tough issues it had on the work <br />plan. He said that an important part of community policing was addressing the root causes of <br />crime. He emphasized the importance of funding for drug treatment to combat the fact the <br />majority of crimes committed in Eugene were drug-related. Mr. Kelly thought more needed to <br />happen in this area, and hoped the commission would include the issue in its efforts and begin to <br />think about how the definition of public safety and what the police do could be enlarged to deal <br />with that root cause. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly expressed concern over the commission's plan not to use statistically valid surveys that <br />were representative of the population. Ms. Newbre responded that the commission was less <br />interested in a statistically valid survey than it was in having an idea about the trends of knowledge <br />and interest in the community. She said that it was difficult and expensive to design a statistically <br />valid survey instrument; while the commission had discussed the concept, it decided on a less <br />formal approach. Mr. Kelly asked who would fill out the questionnaire: Whoever happened upon <br />it? Ms. Newbre said it would be used during the Speakers Bureau. Mr. Kelly had serious <br />concerns about that approach. He suggested that if such a questionnaire was to be used, it should <br />be used in conjunction with a sampling technique to gauge citizen sentiment. He did not think the <br />cost would be high. <br /> <br />Dr. Katul said the commission discussed the questionnaire extensively and he had shared Mr. <br />Kelly's concerns. The commission agreed that the questionnaire would be more of an extension of <br />the public forum format. Mr. Katul noted the City's plan to conduct a statically valid survey on <br />similar issues. Mr. Brown added that cost was an issue; the initial cost quoted to the commission <br />was between $6,000 and $8,000. He said the commission did not intend to interpret the results <br />from the questionnaire as though it was statistically valid. Mr. Kelly did not think the cost was <br />much in the context of the entire department budget. <br /> <br />Ms. Parisi said that the commission did not feel it was its role to be doing a scientific study of <br />citizens' perceptions, believing that was more of a department task. The commission was trying to <br />expand its normal public input process to give as many people an opportunity to comment. Having <br />the questionnaire to hand out at the Speakers Bureau would give the commission a thumbnail <br />sketch of people's knowledge and perceptions of community policing. Demographics would be <br />collected to ensure the commission could target under represented audiences for input in the <br />future. She emphasized the commission would not report the results as though they were <br />statistically valid. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor thought the questionnaire sounded more like a sampling than a survey, and she thought <br />it would be fine as long as everyone acknowledged it was not a survey. She encouraged the <br />commission to do outreach to the neighborhood organizations. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner cautioned the commission that the input it received would be self-selected, and said <br />some mechanism to solicit input from the broader community was needed. He suggested a <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 24, 2001 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />