MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Moultrie Police Department has concluded a trial of the Open Policing solution designed to help law enforcement agencies better engage their communities and receive real-time public feedback, and city officials say the experiment is a success.

The program has generated valuable feedback about how residents perceive local law enforcement and how the police department can leverage data to improve the way in which it serves, a press release stated.

 Moultrie police officers actively participated in the trial by giving each resident with whom they engaged an opportunity to share the quality of their encounters.  

While some law enforcement agencies are experiencing an increase in citizen complaints, lawsuits, and legal settlements, Moultrie Police Department has experienced a 35 percent reduction in citizen complaints since implementing the program, the release said.  

“We believe that by listening to our residents, we can learn from them and improve our policies and procedures,” said Frank Lang, who serves as chief emeritus of the Moultrie Police Department.

The trial has produced insights and feedback about officers’ behavior that are often not captured using traditional citizen complaint/commendation systems, it was noted.  

“We know that the clear majority of our officers are doing a great job and creating goodwill in our community.  The Open Policing solution is the first of its kind that has successfully captured this,” said Lang.

Moving forward, the police department plans to continue engaging the community for real-time public feedback.  

For more information, contact the Moultrie Police Department at frank.lang@moultriega.com. For more information about Open Policing, please visit www.openpolicing.org.