RENO — Beginning Tuesday, households throughout the Reno area will be randomly selected to participate in the Reno Police Department’s annual Public Attitude and Opinion Survey. The survey provides a continual measurement of public attitudes and opinions about local law enforcement-related matters.

The survey will be conducted by telephone between 5 and 9 p.m. through Thursday, as well as Monday and Tuesday next week. The survey is a planning tool for the police department and annually targets about 800 households. The Reno Police Department utilizes volunteers from the community to obtain information on topics ranging from performance to community issues including questions about personal contacts and experiences with law enforcement officers.

Area residents who were not picked for the telephone poll may also participate in the annual survey online. The online poll will be available through March 15 by following the “Quicklinks” link at the top of the page on the city of Reno’s Web site at www.reno.gov.

This will be the 28th annual survey conducted by the Reno Police Department, which began the surveys in 1987 as part of its shift away from an emphasis on traditional service delivery strategies that are viewed as primarily reactive and focused on symptoms rather than causes. The community-oriented policing philosophy emphasizes problem-solving partnerships between the police and community to improve quality of life.

The Reno survey, which is used to measure the effectiveness of the community-oriented policing program, has been recognized as a national model program by the Police Executive Research forum and John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. It has also been recognized and featured in several publications.