Billings Police Department Strengthens Community Trust Through Enhanced Outreach

National attention on police-resident issues led Billings to seek resident input on ways to better allocate resources to address citizen concerns.

Public safety and police-resident relationships have been at the forefront of the national dialogue, especially since 2020.

In Billings, Montana, these issues complicated the city's community-centered policing goals, which were already hampered by a very lean budget. With the addition of a 70% rise in the violent crime rate, Billing needed to identify ways for the police to better meet the needs of the city's residents. The police force and city government hoped to get input from their residents on satisfaction with the police's efforts in reducing crime, as well as identify ways to better allocate their resources to address citizen concerns.

“Facing these challenges, we wanted to do the most efficient and effective things with our policing services that we could,” said Kevin Iffland, Assistant City Administrator.

Billings conducted the National Police Services Survey to learn resident satisfaction with the police and identify areas of improvement.

Billings leaders needed to understand resident satisfaction with safety and police services.

They wanted data (not just anecdotes) from residents to drive the conversation around improving services.

The City worked with National Research Center (NRC) at Polco to conduct The National Police Services Survey (The NPSS). The NPSS provides a comprehensive and accurate picture of resident opinions on police services and compares local results with Polco’s national database.

“The NPSS provides important data related to how people view police services,” said Iffland.

The results also allow Billings to deploy resources where they are needed most. Residents indicated in the survey that they feel less safe in the commercial area downtown and certain parks at night. Thus, leaders are able to put more resources there.

“These results were not a big surprise to us. But they did confirm we are on the same page as our residents in terms of the actions we were already thinking about taking,” said Iffland. “One thing that stood out to us from the survey is that older people tend to trust the police more than the younger demographic." This indicates a disconnect in communication with younger adult groups.

Because of these results, the department is expanding its use of social media to improve outreach and connection with younger residents. They are also carefully explaining the reasons behind Department decisions.

“We plan to keep monitoring the situation and then come back and do a follow-up survey to see if we are making an impact with citizens,” said Iffland.

According to The NPSS, residents highly regard the Billings Police Department. At least three-quarters of respondents said that the Billings Police Department does an excellent or good job acting in the best interest of the community, acting within the law, and being trustworthy. And most respondents also gave positive ratings for overall quality of services. All ratings for trust and service delivery were higher than the national average.

“Billings’ scores on service delivery and trust are a strong indicator of the quality of police department performance in the community. This trust results from strong resident engagement, among other factors,” said Michelle Kobayashi, Polco’s Senior Vice President of Innovation.

“We believe these positive results come from our efforts to be as transparent as the law allows,” said Iffland. “Additionally it helps to have a long-term police chief who is very active in the community.”