BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Results are in and the information gathering process has ended with the Buffalo Police Department Foot Patrol Integration Unit.
This group of police officers visited different parts of the city, speaking with neighbors, hanging notices on door knobs. They were asking folks to respond to a survey using a QR code.
WATCH: 'Some people respond, some people don't': Buffalo police survey responses low from city's east side
The 7 News I-Team went digging through the data. Based on the number of responses, it became abundantly clear the city's east side is poorly represented in the surveys.
- A total of 3,071 responses were returned.
- About 2,500 of those responses came from North Buffalo, South Buffalo and the west side
- A little more than 500 responses came from Buffalo's east side.
There are almost 300,000 people living in Buffalo.
This was a big push by Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, when he took over once Former Mayor Byron Brown resigned.
Drantch: The city's east side is still significantly underrepresented in these responses. Why is that?
Scanlon: I couldn't tell you why some people respond, some people don't. I can promise you that despite the fact that maybe survey responses were low in certain areas of the city, we are in constant communication with the elected officials in those areas. We have people out talking to people in other capacities, other events, making sure we're getting feedback. One that will not come from this Foot Patrol Unit is a focus on certain areas of the City of Buffalo. This is a city-wide effort to make sure the City of Buffalo is safe.
But how many responses were actually given out? How many of those were on the east side? City officials responded after this story aired,
“While we don’t have an exact total count of surveys distributed, FPIU officers canvassed every residential street and business corridor citywide as part of the outreach effort.
In terms of supervision, the unit was overseen day-to-day by three lieutenants who were responsible for deployment and operations. Those supervisors regularly walked the beat alongside officers during their shifts. The lieutenants, in turn, reported directly to the Deputy of Operations.”
Scanlon's last day in office is Wednesday.
