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Survey Shows High Marks For Superior Police

Majority Approve Of Police, Request More Training For Officers

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A majority of Superior residents approve of the work that police are doing, according to the results of a community survey conducted by University of Wisconsin-Superior. The results are similar to findings in a survey by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association this spring.


Superior Police Chief Nick Alexander (far left) said he’ll task divisions within his department with addressing recommendations from the community survey. Danielle Kaeding/WPR

The review found 81 percent of 500 city residents surveyed believe Superior officers are doing their job well. About 94 percent of respondents were white, which is consistent with the city’s most recent census data.

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Superior Police Chief Nick Alexander said public perception was less favorable among minorities.

“I do believe when you look at the interactions with police officers, the ideas are officers polite and respectful (and) treat everybody fairly, I think that there was some disparity when we looked at people that would fall into communities of color versus Caucasian respondents,” he said.

However, most people surveyed say Superior police are well-trained, professional and respond quickly to calls. The UW-Superior research team identified eight recommendations for the department, including more diversity, drug and mental health training.

Alexander noted the department is working toward developing a certificate program for officers on cultural awareness with UW-Superior to promote understanding of diverse communities. He added that detectives and officers have made efforts to educate residents about signs of drug use among teens and young adults.

Alexander also said they send officers to crisis intervention trainings, but funding is limited. The department has a roughly $45,000 annual training budget for its 57 officers.

Those surveyed also wanted more resources and staffing for Superior police, as well as more diversity in its workforce.

“When I applied to be chief, I talked about wanting to ensure that our department is representative of the community that we police and recognizing that we have an all-white police department and that I would like to make steps in the direction to change that,” he said.

Alexander said the department has made progress with diversifying its applicant pool and will swear in its first African-American officer Thursday, May 18.

Those surveyed felt police work well with residents, seniors, students and businesses. However, they also responded that they had no knowledge or opinion of how Superior police interacted with Native Americans, the LGBT community and communities of color.

Alexander plans to repeat the survey every three years as recommended by the research team, which is comprised of students in the criminal justice program at the university.