FM3 Research
Proposal to Conduct a Public Safety
Resident Survey for the
City of La Quinta
Submitted by FM3 Research
Contact:
John Fairbank | Adam Sonenshein
Partner | Vice President
February 27, 2019 921-5089
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TO Frank Spevacek, City Manager
City of La Quinta
FROM John Fairbank & Adam Sonenshein
FM3 Research
RE: Proposal to Conduct a Public Safety Resident Survey for the City of La Quinta
DATE February 27, 2019
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) is pleased to submit this short proposal to conduct research
assessing La Quinta residents’ awareness and perceptions of the City’s public safety camera pilot program.
This proposal is organized into four sections: Section 1 discusses FM3’s understanding of the project objectives;
Section 2 reviews our relevant experience; Section 3 summarizes our proposed research approach and
methodology for this project; and Section 4 outlines FM3’s proposed research specifications and estimated costs.
1 PROJECT UNDERSTANDING
FM3 understands that the City of La Quinta intends to undertake a public safety camera pilot program in the near
future. These cameras, which will provide real-time video feeds for the City’s public safety Departments from
multiple major intersections throughout the City, are part of the City of La Quinta’s efforts to leverage technology
to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of the public safety services it provides for the community. Specific
goals for the pilot program include evaluating the system’s effectiveness in decreasing response times for first
responders during emergencies in targeted intersections and increasing the efficiency of the City’s public safety
personnel deployment in such a way that fewer personnel need to be deployed at any one time, producing cost
savings for the City.
As part of the evaluation of the public safety camera pilot program, the City of La Quinta wishes to acquire
quantitative data about what residents know about the program, how they perceive it, if they feel it is effective
at reducing crime, whether they support the policy of leveraging public safety cameras in intersections as an
ongoing part of the City’s public safety deployment, and the best ways the City can communicate about the
program including potentially by helping to address misinformation about the program. The research outlined in
this proposal is designed to do exactly that.
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2 RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
2.1 Experience in La Quinta, the Coachella Valley & Riverside County
FM3 is proud to have provided extremely-accurate research for the City of La Quinta in the past that the City has
leveraged to achieve its objectives. Specifically, our research for the City in 2014 helped inform the passage of
Measure G, the City of La Quinta’s successful 1-cent sales tax measure, in the election of November 2016. The
same project team of Partner John Fairbank and Vice President Adam Sonenshein will be engaged with the City
throughout this proposed project as well.
We also regularly provide research for other local public agencies throughout the Coachella Valley, including the
cities of Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, the Desert
Recreation District, the Palm Springs Unified School District, and the Riverside County Transportation
Commission, among others.
Beyond the Coachella Valley, FM3 has significant experience conducting research on behalf of both public and
private organizations throughout Riverside County. Specifically, our firm has conducted research for 18 of
Riverside County’s 28 incorporated cities, including Canyon Lake, Corona, Hemet, Menifee, Moreno Valley,
Norco, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula, and Wildomar — in addition to the City of La Quinta itself and the seven
other Coachella Valley cities cited above. Among FM3’s current and former special district clients, the firm has
worked for the Beaumont Library District, Eastern Municipal Water District, and the Jurupa Area Recreation and
Parks District.
Further, FM3’s school district clients include Beaumont Unified School District, Corona-Norco Unified School
District, Hemet Unified School District, Lake Elsinore Unified School District, Perris Elementary School District,
Perris Union High School District, Riverside Unified School District, San Jacinto Unified School District, Yucaipa-
Calimesa Unified School District and Mt. San Jacinto Community College District. In addition, FM3’s research
helped the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) secure voter approval for the countywide one-
half-cent transportation sales tax, Measure A. More recently, in 2017, FM3 conducted focus groups and a dual-
mode survey of Riverside County voters for RCTC to examine the feasibility of an additional one-half-cent
countywide transportation sales tax.
FM3 also regularly conducts research among Riverside County residents on behalf of private sector clients, such
as the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Southern California Edison, SoCal Gas and Waste Management, as well
as local elected officials and political candidates. In this capacity, our firm serves as pollsters for several state -
level elected officials representing the various regions of Riverside County.
This significant portfolio of work provides our team with current information regarding trends in local public
opinion and issues of public concern. We would leverage this local knowledge, and our vast library of historic
public opinion data from local residents, to benefit the research we would design and conduct for this project.
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2.2 Experience with Public Safety Issues
FM3 has a long history of collaborating with cities to assess city services and, specifically, public safety services.
We have also worked with law enforcement organizations seeking to better understand local perceptions of their
agencies and determine areas of improvement.
➢ FM3 has vast experience examining California residents’ awareness and perceptions of public safety-related
issues. The past few years have been a turbulent time for law enforcement as officer-related shootings across
the country and use-of-force incidents are receiving more media coverage. Also, several major changes to
California’s criminal justice system – the enactment of realignment and the passage of Proposition 36 in 2012
in particular – have put more pressure on law enforcement as the state releases low-level/non-violent
offenders from state prisons, and local public safety agencies are required to take on more responsibility for
either incarcerating or monitoring these criminals. And, after years of the crime rate declining to record low
levels, recent reports suggest that the crime rate is increasing in California. Further, public attitudes will
continue to evolve as marijuana legalization and drug policy reform proposals are implemented in California
and across the nation and policymakers nationwide re-examine sentencing policies.
In this context, FM3 conducts surveys for cities (ranging in size from large cities such as Los Angeles, Long
Beach, and Oakland to smaller communities such as West Hollywood, Livermore, and Hawaiian Gardens) to
determine residents’ and voters’ attitudes about their local law enforcement agencies, concerns for their
personal safety in their neighborhoods and larger surrounding communities, as well as their support for efforts
to improve public safety and relations between law enforcement and local residents in their community. In
recent years, FM3 has also worked on behalf of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Kern County,
Modesto, and Oxnard first responders to ascertain residents’ and/or voters’ views of their respective police
departments, and whether they support initiatives to improve policing in their respective jurisdictions, as well
as more specific policing issues, such as body cameras, tasers, and the use of force. In many of these surveys,
respondents were asked if they have ever needed to call the police. Whether or not respondents have ever
reported needing law enforcement has then been examined to identify differences between groups in their
perceptions of crime, awareness of police services, and support for public policy initiatives.
➢ FM3 has worked for dozens of cities on surveys that evaluate a range of city services, including public safety
priorities and satisfaction. Our clients for this service have included Anaheim, Bellflower*1, Capitola*,
Carson*, Citrus Heights, Concord, Coronado*, Chico, Dana Point*, Del Mar, Dublin*, El Monte, Fairfield,
Folsom, Fremont*, Grass Valley, Hawaiian Gardens*, Hemet, Hercules, Irvine, La Habra, Lakewood*,
Larkspur, Livermore (Police Department), Los Angeles, Long Beach (Police Department)*, Manhattan Beach,
Millbrae, Milpitas, Modesto*, Moreno Valley, Oakland*, Palo Alto, Palos Verdes Estates, Pasadena*,
Pleasanton*, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Palos Verdes (Parks and Recreation Department), Rancho Santa
Margarita*, Redondo Beach, San Francisco*, San José*, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo*, San Ramon*,
1 * Denotes cities where FM3 has conducted two or more citizen satisfaction surveys.
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Santa Barbara*, Santa Monica*, Saratoga, Signal Hill, South Gate, Stanton*, Sunnyvale, Torrance*, Ventura,
and West Hollywood*.
➢ Over the years, FM3 has conducted research for numerous local law enforcement officers’ associations. This
work involves helping leadership during budget negotiations, respond to public crises and develop policy
initiatives to improve public safety services. FM3 clients have included Long Beach POA, Los Angeles Police
Protective League, West Covina POA, Hawthorne POA, the Association for Los Angeles County Deputy
Sheriffs, Kern Law Enforcement Association (representing Kern County Deputy Sheriffs), San José POA, and
the San Francisco POA on a wide range of issues. FM3’s research for the Long Beach POA and the Mayor of
Long Beach played a crucial role in passing a local sales tax increase in June 2016 that provides significant new
funding for law enforcement in Long Beach, and our work for the Hawthorne POA helped secure passage for
a similar sales tax measure in the City of Hawthorne in November 2017. Our firm also conducted research for
the Los Angeles Police Protective League to help secure voter approval for a municipal charter amendment
on the May 2017 Los Angeles ballot regarding the procedure for police officer disciplinary cases.
➢ FM3 frequently works on law enforcement and public safety issues at the statewide level. Our firm regularly
provides research on statewide issues for the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC). We
also worked with the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties during the
development of the Governor’s realignment policy – and on Proposition 30 to provide local governments a
secure source of funding as they were being asked to shoulder greater responsibility for incarcerating and
monitoring convicted felons.
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2.3 Experience Helping Public Agencies Get Resident Input
FM3 often works with public agencies to get input from residents to help guide strategic decision-making and
communications on issues that are not related to elections. For the Central School District, we designed and
conducted a survey that helped the District identify if residents preferred to build a new high school or to renovate
an existing one and rearrange district attendance boundaries; we helped the City of Dana Point understand
residents preferences on City Council redistricting; we conducted a parent survey on preferences on the school-
year calendar for the Capistrano Unified School District; we worked with the Riverside Unified School District on
a project to help them understand what current and potential parents are looking for in a school for their child(ren)
and how the school district could best communicate about its offerings; FM3 helped the cities of Temecula and
Hemet shape their policies on cannabis business regulation; and we aided the Transportation Corridor Agencies
of Orange County (TCA) in learning about how to communicate about their environmental stewardship, among
many other examples.
3 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
3.1 Address-Based Dual Mode Residential Survey
The proportion of Americans willing to participate in public opinion survey research by way of telephone
interviews has been in a long-term, industrywide decline for more than a decade. This trend is understood by
industry experts and academic researchers to be the result of both behavioral and technological changes, and a
consensus is emerging that the most effective way for opinion research practitioners to adapt to these changes is
by providing greater opportunities for web-based participation in opinion survey research, through a variety of
platforms – not only computers and laptops, but various mobile devices and smartphones as well.
FM3’s recommended, address-based, dual mode (telephone and online) methodology incorporates all of these
emerging best-practices, and provides the additional advantage of offering a way for respondents who have no
telephone number or email address available via public or consumer records to participate in the survey. As
discussed in detail below, FM3 provides the option of contacting these respondents via mail, so that they will
receive a postcard invitation to participate in the survey that includes a unique URL they can use to do so. While
this optional aspect of the survey outreach does not always generate large numbers of additional respondents, it
does produce a more inclusive sample by ensuring these hard-to-reach residents are provided an equal
opportunity to participate in the survey.
How it Works
The contemporary approach for gathering statistically-reliable data on the opinions of adult residents within a
given jurisdiction is to draw a stratified, random sample of residential households (sourced from lists provided
either by the City itself, or alternately, the U.S. Postal Service), then match these residential addresses against
publicly-available consumer and voter registration records to acquire the residents’ names and current contact
information (phone numbers and email addresses), and finally, interview them by telephone and online. The
resulting data is weighted using figures from the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure that every demographic and
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geographic community within the surveyed jurisdiction is proportionally represented by the final survey results.
This process is illustrated graphically by Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Address-Based Sampling Survey
(10 Interview Example)
Using this address-based, dual mode data collection methodology, FM3 collects survey data in two phases, each
described in turn below.
Phase IA: E-Mail Prompted Online Interviews
During this phase, FM3 will pull a stratified random sample of residential households in the targeted Zip Codes
(sourced from comprehensive lists of all residential addresses provided either by the City or the U.S. Postal Service)
and identify the names, phone numbers, and email addresses for their adult residents. We will acquire this name
and contact information data from two major sources:
• The voter file maintained by Riverside County; and
• Commercially available consumer records
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Once FM3 has identified email addresses for the desired number of respondents, an invitation will be sent to all
individuals for whom an email address is available. To encourage the greatest level of participation possible, we
recommend the email invitation include the City’s actual electronic seal or logo, with a note explaining that the
City has hired an independent public opinion research firm to conduct a survey about local issues that are relevant
to its residents and have this electronic document “signed” by a senior City official. The email invitation will
provide a unique link for the resident to take the survey online (which can only be used once). Three to four days
after this initial email invitation is sent, a reminder email will be directed to recipients who have not yet taken the
survey, requesting that they do so.
Phase IB: Postcard-Prompted Online Interviews (OPTIONAL)
In parallel with the distribution of the first e-mailed survey invitation, FM3 can also mail a postcard invitation to a
subset of residential households within our stratified random sample which do not have a telephone number or
email address on public record, to ensure that these residents are equally eligible to participate in the survey. The
postcard, like the email invitation, would be framed as a request from the City to participate, and include a written
invitation to take the survey online with a unique URL provided at which to do so.
Phase II: Telephone Interviews
Within a week of the initial distribution of invitation emails (and postcards, if applicable), FM3 will conduct a
thorough examination of the demographic characteristics of those who have taken the survey online. By
comparing the demographic characteristics of those who have completed the survey online with the attributes of
the adult resident population as a whole, FM3 will note specific subsets that are either overrepresented or
underrepresented in the online sample. In many communities, those who opt to take a survey online tend to be
younger and/or more affluent than the broader population.
FM3 will then conduct further interviews with additional respondents by telephone. The telephone interviews
will be conducted primarily among respondents who were underrepresented in the online sample, thereby
producing an overall survey sample using both methodologies (online and telephone) that mirrors the adult
resident population.
3.2 Translation
Given that approximately 32 percent of La Quinta residents are of Latino/Hispanic origin, we recommend
translating the survey into Spanish so that respondents who would prefer taking the survey in that language have
the option of doing so.
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4 RESEARCH SPECIFICATIONS & ESTIMATED COSTS
Research
Methodology
Address-based residential survey
Data Collection
Mode
Telephone and online interviews
Respondent
Contact Method
Telephone calls + Email invitations
Sample 400 City of La Quinta residents ages 18+
Margin of
Sampling Error
±4.9 percent in 95 out of 100 cases for a sample of 400 interviews
Questionnaire 15- to 20-minute questionnaire, including approximately 40-75 unique questions (including
battery question items and demographic questions). The length of the questionnaire will
be determined jointly by FM3 and the City, based on an evaluation of the questions that
are necessary to provide the City with the information it needs.
Language Telephone interviews will be conducted in English and Spanish. Online interviews will be
conducted in English, only.
Deliverables Following the completion of the survey, we will provide:
• A questionnaire with the topline results of the survey for easy reference
• A complete set of crosstabs in an easy-to-read, comprehensive format
• Verbatim responses to any open-ended questions
• A complete analysis of survey results in PowerPoint
• A presentation of the survey results
FM3 will also be available for ongoing consultation and any further analysis of the research.
Cost Figure 2 below contains the total estimated costs for this research. These prices are
comprehensive, and include all costs for questionnaire design, Spanish translation, sample
acquisition and preparation, programming, email invitations, survey hosting, bilingual
telephone interviewing, data entry and analysis, and reporting.
Figure 2: City of La Quinta Bilingual Resident Survey Costs
Survey Length No Postcards With Postcards
15 minutes $33,850 $39,500
20 minutes $36,750 $41,750
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We would welcome the opportunity to work with you on this research, and if you have any questions or if there
is any further information we can provide, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your consideration,
and you may reach us in our Los Angeles office as follows:
John Fairbank, Partner
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3)
12100 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 350
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 828-1183 (Office)
John@FM3Research.com
Adam Sonenshein, Vice President
Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3)
12100 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 350
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 828-1183 (Office)
Adam@FM3Research.com