Roswell seeks feedback on police interactions via text survey

ROSWELL N.M. — In the world of instant gratification, text surveys make it easy for politicians or companies to send out customer reviews.

If you live in Roswell, you may hear from the police department about how they interact with the public.

Roswell Police Chief Joe Smith said it’s a way to gauge officers on how they interact with people when they respond to calls.

“A lot of people will not necessarily pick up the phone and make a phone call, but whenever you have a mobile device in your hands, which most people do all of the time, it takes a few seconds to send a quick text message reply to this survey,” he said.

If someone calls dispatch for a burglary or any other reason and officers respond, the text service will reach out to the person who made the call via text after it happened.

“All this information will be going to our supervisors and to our administration, so we can do a better job serving our community, and also giving those officers that do a good job the recognition that they deserve for doing a good job,” said Smith.

They will also be able to handle situations in a quick manner if an officer gets a bad review.

“If it is of a serious nature, it will be looked into completely thoroughly, and it will be dealt with. But, if it’s just ‘the officer could have done this better or communicated better,’ then we will address it accordingly,” he said.

This will be a permanent change for the department. The text service will also give the person who called 911 updates on the police report if they filed one.