Prepared By:

Alexa Arnold
Joe Faiola
(Group 9)
Comm. 3100
Focus Group Report

Topic:

Reducing Friction Between Law Enforcement and the

Community
Clients:

Dr. Leah Murray & Dr. Monica Williams

Location:

Facilitation occurred during Deliberative Democracy Day

Weber State University
Union Building Room # 331
March 2nd, 2016
12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m.

Diagram of Room Layout

Pre-Facilitation

The participants had not yet completed the pre-survey questions prior to the
beginning of the facilitation. In addition, none of them had received a copy of the factsheet. We allowed the participants to use the first 5 minutes of the facilitation time to
complete the pre-survey, preview the fact sheet, and complete the demographic survey.
When those activities were completed, we introduced ourselves, did a round-robin of
introductions for the participants, established ground rules (see below), and began the
facilitation. We explained the concept of the parking garage, and we recorded the
facilitation on one of our phones. We explained confidentiality to the participants, and
let them know that we would be transcribing their responses anonymously into a report
for our class.

Ground Rules
Participation was completely anonymous. We would not be including names
of the participants in our final report.
Each participant would be given an opportunity to respond to each question.
The list of questions is not all-inclusive, and we may interject with follow-up
questions as the discussion permits.
We may periodically check the phone/recorder to check the time as our
room did not have a clock easily visible to the group.
Participants were expected to respect one-another by speaking in turn, and
with civility.
Disagreement is a natural part of the discussion, but the expectation is to
respectfully disagree.
We explained that our facilitation was Like Vegas: What happens there,
stays there.

Group Climate
We began the facilitation with three participants. At the conclusion of our
third question, a fourth participant was introduced to the group.
All participants were civil and polite to each other.
Participants 1 and 4 gave the most detailed responses, and also represented
opposite points of view.
Participants 2 and 3 were generally quiet and detached from the discussion.
We did use techniques to get them involved, but the majority of their responses
were superficial, or stating that they aligned with the opinions of participant 1.
Participant 4 arrived late, and we gave him an opportunity to start over and
respond to the first questions he had missed. As a result of starting over, we did
not complete all survey questions. Regardless, Participant 4 provided some of the
most compelling and insightful responses.

Participant Demographics
After the arrival of our fourth participant, our group consisted of three males and one
female student. Two participants were in the 17-24 age range and the other two were in
the 25-39 age range. All were current students at Weber State University. There were
three Caucasians, and one African-American. Areas of study represented were Business,
Zoology, Psychology, and Digital Media (with Coaching minor). The group had one
democrat and three independents. One participant relied entirely upon local news,
another participant relied only on NPR, one participant relied on Fox News, CNN, and
local news, and the fourth participant wrote N/A for news sources.

Deliberative Democracy Day Questions and Answers

1. What do you think the role of the police is in the community?
Participant 1 stated that they believed the general role of the police in the
community was to keep the peace and to prevent crime. If they had free time,
other duties like writing citations or interacting with the public could occur, but the
main role was to be peace keepers.
Participant 3 believed that the main focus of an officer is to enforce the laws
that are written.
Probe: Can you elaborate for us a little bit what that means to
you?
Participant 3 stated that they could not elaborate further, and that they
didnt really have a lot of interaction with officers, so they did not really
understand the role well enough to comment further.
Participant 2 replied that the mission of the police department is to Protect
and Serve and that every activity should reflect back on that mission.
Do you support that role?
The general consensus of the group was that they do support their
respective roles of the police. It was agreed that this was somewhat of a closedend question, and that they werent really sure how to respond. The group came
to consensus that the overall opinion of Law Enforcement was an amalgamation of
each viewpoint, and that each person felt they supported that view.
What would you change about their roles?
The group initially had difficulty answering the question, and stated that it
was a very broad question. The question was reworded.
Probe: What would you like to see the police in your community
doing more often?

 Participant 1 would like to see more community involvement from the police
officers. Higher visibility, more activities like carnivals and public education.
Participant 3 agreed that visibility and an emphasis on being helpful was the
key.
Participant 2 stated I agree and would not elaborate further.

2. Overall, how do you feel about the protection and service the police
provide to your hometown?
A discussion was held about the meaning of the question. It was explained
that it is an opinion based question and that there are no right or wrong answers.
Participant 3 stated that she has only ever seen police officers in a nonemergency setting, and that because she had never seen active crime, she
believed the police were doing a good job.
Participant 2 stated that they had been party to an incident where an officer
had a bad attitude and treated people as if they were guilty until proven innocent.
This negative experience with police has tainted his viewpoint of the service they
provide.
A question was asked about whether this was referring to Ogden Police
specifically, or policing in general. It was explained that this was a question about
policing in general, but that Ogden Police would be participating in the panel
discussion later because they are local to Weber State.
For example, do you feel comfortable calling the police?
Participant 3 has never had to call the police, and explained that a lack of
interaction has helped her to retain a positive opinion about their service. She had
neighbors who had a good experience while calling, and her expectation is that it
would be positive if she ever needed assistance.
***At this point, a new member was introduced into our group. We explained
the ground rules again, and discussed the panel of experts and asked if
anyone wanted to be group spokesperson. We then went back over parts of
the first two questions for the new member of the group.***
(1). What do you think the role of the police is in the community?
Participant 4 said, Protect and serve.
Do you support that role?
Participant 4 stated that they did support the role that police had in the
community, until they take advantage [of that role].
What would you change about their roles?

 Participant 4 wasnt sure how to answer the question at first but then went
on to say that they didnt think we could change it. They elaborated by saying
that they believed if the role of police was changed, then society would collapse
into mayhem.
(2). Overall, how do you feel about the protection and service the police
provide to your hometown?
Participant 4 commented on how they lived in a dangerous area growing up.
They said that the police did a decent job but that there was a lot of profiling.
***At this point, the group re-entered the discussion and we continued on
with the first probe of Question #2.***
Do you trust the police?
Participant 1 said that they did trust the police, in general. They said that
there are some bad eggs, but thats the same in every profession.
Participant 2 said that they didnt know if they trusted the police or not. I
get the feeling theyre there to issue tickets or shoot someone. They said that
they didnt think that there was the appropriate checks and balances when it
came to police organizations. They also said that body cameras would be a good
way to protect police and citizens.
Participant 4 said that they thought that most policemen went into the
profession with the right intentions until the power goes to their head.
Can you share examplesor explain why?
Participant 2 commented saying that they believe in the slippery slope
with police officers. They also said that they thought that fighting against the
excessive use of force of police officers may just make it worse.
Participant 3 said that most police have the right reasons, but also agreed
that there are sometimes just some bad eggs. They also stated that they
believed the different treatment of citizens by police organizations had to do with
the area.
Participant 4 told a story about their first year in Ogden, when they were
outside of a house at night with their friends and the police stopped a put a
spotlight on them, asking what they were doing. Even though they and their
friends were doing nothing wrong, they were put into handcuffs after being
questioned.
Do you think that this incident was racially driven?
Participant 4 said that a lot of the time, not all of the time, cops may be
intimidated by those of another race. Participant 4 went on to elaborate on the
fact that they didnt think that all cops racially profiled, and said that they thought
it was disappointing that a few cops could make all cops bad. They used the

analogy of grocery shopping, and how someone would not buy a carton of eggs if
there was even just one bad egg. Bad eggs make the whole carton look bad.
3.

Is race an issue when talking about how police handle situations?

Participant 4 said yes. They went on to tell a story where a caucasian man
and an African-American man were in the same situation but had different
consequences. They also said that its not just police, everyone racially profiles.
Its hard to talk about race in USA. How can we deal better with
racial issues when it comes to policing?
Participant 1 said that they had been following Ben Carson in his candidacy
and said that they, receiving this idea from Ben Carson, believed that race
wouldnt be such a big deal if we didnt make it such a big deal.
Participant 1 also said that they were in the army for four and a half years,
and that the last thing you think about is race [in the army].
Participants 2 and 3 said that they didnt know.
Participant 4 said that racism is taught and that they only way to better deal
with racial issues is to teach love, not hate.

4. How should levels of force be determined by police?

Participant 1 reminded us that they had gone through the police academy
and said that in the academy, training officers are taught One Above Assailant.
This means that you use one level of force above what you are being presented
with. They gave examples so that the rest of the group could understand what
that would entail.
Participant 2 said that they believed that police officers should shoot to
wound rather than shoot to kill. They went on to say that unless the assailant has
a gun and can kill the police officer from a distance, the police officer shouldnt kill
them. Theyre still a person.
***At this point, we ran out of time for discussion. We then clarified with our
group which questions they wanted to ask the panel and collected their
demographic surveys.***
When is it appropriate to use lethal force?
What are other alternatives?
5. Do you think police officers get sufficient training for their complex jobs?
What other training would you suggest? (And why?)
When police violate their own training / rules, what should the consequences be?

6. What do you think about the use of body cams by police?

When should they be usedor required?
Who should get to see the video footage?
Would you support a tax increase in order to pay for body cams for Ogden police?
7. How can officers help curtail the misbehavior of their fellow officers?
How can they overcome the stigma of being a rat within their own precinct?
When is ratting on a fellow officer appropriate? When inappropriate?
8. What are some ways you would suggest to improve the relationship
between the police and the community?
How would you implement these suggestions?
9. IF TIME....What other ideas or opinions would you like us to record about
this topic of reducing friction between law enforcement and the community?

Questions for Panel of Experts

1. How can you adequately train police officers for the intensity of the job
without simulating life or death situations in the academy? [Participant 1]
2. Where is Ogden City in the process for obtaining and implementing body
cameras? [Participant 1]
3. Do you think that there has been a decline in the number of Police Academy
cadets? [Participant 3]
a. If so, do you believe that a lack of cadets has encouraged the
hiring of officers that are not necessarily the best candidates for the job?
[Participant 3]