Wisconsin Professional Police Association Releases 10th Annual Survey Regarding Law Enforcement and the Public

Friday, May 6th, 2022 -- 12:00 PM

(WMTV) The Wisconsin Professional Police Association released their 10th annual survey regarding the state of law enforcement as perceived by the public.

The online survey included 1,119 respondents who answered questions in February of 2022. Many of the questions dealt with law enforcement and racial justice.

For example, the survey asked: “have racial protests helped or hurt efforts to increase racial justice?” According to the WPPA survey, overall, 37% of respondents said the protests have helped while 51% say they have hurt.

If you break that down even further: 32% of white respondents said the protests have helped; 63% of non-white respondents said the protests have helped. Seventy percent of the people surveyed said the law enforcement’s highest priority is keeping the community safe from crime. Respondents also noted that they consider drug addiction to be the biggest problem in their community.

Here are some more notable results from the WPPA survey:

“Overall, how do you rate your local police force?”

• 77% approve,
• 19% disapprove.

“How much respect to you have for police in your community?”

• White: 64% said “a great deal”;
• Non-white: 42% said “a great deal”

“Social unrest due to police actions is justified.”

• Agree: 36%,
• Disagree: 51%.

“How much of a problem do you feel racism is in society?”

• White: 34% said “a major problem”,
• Non-white: 57% said “a major problem”.

“Police violence against blacks in Wisconsin”.

• White: 21% said the issue was “extremely serious”;
• Non-white 50% said the issue was “extremely serious”

The survey also found that people believed gun violence was the number cause of on-duty deaths for Wisconsin law enforcement officers. However, in 2021, the leading cause of death was COVID-19.

Five law enforcement officers in Wisconsin died in the line of duty in 2021, four of them from COVID-19. According to the National Law Enforcement Museum, 458 officers died in the line of duty in 2021. That’s a 55% increase from the year before.

According to the report’s findings, 301 officers died from COVID-19. There were 62 firearm-related deaths among law enforcement in 2021. The WPPA report also touched on having officers in schools and budgetary considerations.

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