By Suzie Ziegler
WARRENTON, Va. — Imagine an Uber rating, but for police encounters. That’s exactly how one small-town police department is trying to improve community relationships.
A program called Guardian Score lets citizens anonymously rate police interactions, FOX News reported. After each police encounter, officers will give citizens a card with a unique QR code that can be scanned to access a digital survey, according to the report.
Warrenton Police leaders hope the feedback will encourage officers to be more communicative.
“This program provides a great way for us to thoroughly measure our officers’ effectiveness and impact on the community,” Warrenton Police Chief Mike Kochis told FOX News. “The community responses are captured on a dashboard that every officer, supervisor and commander can access.”
Kochis says the program has been received positively so far by officers and community members.
“During the initial 90-day pilot of the program, the police department recorded mostly positive responses and positive interactions,” said Kochis. “In reviewing the body cam footage, it’s clear that while our officers routinely treat the public with professionalism and compassion, knowing their interaction would be evaluated has definitely made them focus on explaining ‘why,’ listening and explaining next steps.”
Learn more about Guardian Score here.