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Sacramento County Sheriff's Satisfaction Survey Comes Back Positive

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) — Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones says he wants to find out what the community's approval rate is for his department and hired a company to do a survey at the end of last year.

According to the survey conducted by Godbe Research, almost 80 percent of 700 registered voters stated they were satisfied with the level of service from the sheriff's department.

But some people in the community don't agree with the findings.

"Until taxpayer dollars stop being used to pay off lawsuits, I will never be satisfied with Scott Jones or the sheriff's department," said Sonia Lewis.

Disappointment is the first word that comes to mind Lewis.

She says she hasn't had the best experience with law enforcement and says part of the Black community around the county could also say the same.

"All we want is transparency from this law enforcement agency," Lewis added.

The survey, conducted by a Bay Area-based research group shows about 83 percent of county residents were satisfied with their interaction with the sheriff's department.

That compares to 15 percent who said they were not satisfied.

The department provided a summary of the survey's results, but not the questions that were asked.

"We did landline telephone calls, cellphone calls and then we also had email addresses, and we sent out emails," said Ryan Godbe in a phone interview Thursday.

Godbe, President of Godbe Communications, says close to 700 residents were randomly chosen through the voter registry.

He says their age, gender, and ethnic background were also aligned with the county census.

"Some of the things we asked, 'were you satisfied with the area you live in,' the quality of life, 'are you satisfied with the sheriff's department and the job they're doing?'" Godbe said.

Godbe says over 200 inmates in Sacramento County also participated in the survey.

Seventy percent of those inmates said they were very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their interaction with a sheriff's department employee.

"We will always continue to improve relationships with the various communities that we serve," said Sgt. Nick Goncalves.

Goncalves says he wants to remind the community that deputies are focused on being respectful and giving a voice to citizens.

Lewis begs to differ.

She says the survey could have focused more on the black community during a time of racial turmoil.

"Those are people who need law enforcement the most," said Lewis.

The sheriff's department wouldn't discuss the shortfalls revealed by the survey; they only said they would continue to work with everyone they serve.

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