CMPD is the first law enforcement agency in the country to train all employees on customer experience curriculum; Releases documentary on progress
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released a documentary showcasing the journey and impact of the internal CommUNITY Collaboration customer experience training and curriculum that started two years ago and launched in June of 2021. The program, now called CMPD Serves, has made transformational changes throughout the department during that time positively impacting employees and relationships internally and externally.
“I am so proud of the work our men and women are doing internally and in the community,” said CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings. “I want us to be the best part of someone’s worst day. Our employees rise to that challenge time and time again, and I’m humbled by their hard work and dedication day in and day out.”
The conversations around this initiative began in 2020 when officers and the community as a whole were faced with many challenges. The DiJulius Group, a customer service training and consultancy out of Cleveland, Ohio, partnered with CMPD in 2020 to advise and guide the department through the process to create the program by leading workshops, interviews and focus groups.
“We sent out inquiries across the country and we could not find any other agency that had a customer service initiative or even referred to policing as a customer service profession,” said Jennings. “I knew from our very first phone call that we were onto something big with The DiJulius Group and it was an initiative we had to move forward with.”
CMPD is the first law enforcement agency in the country to develop a strategic approach as well as curriculum around ways to improve audience engagement.
“We are laying the groundwork for this program to seep into the foundation of this organization,” said CMPD Public Affairs Director Sandy Vastola. “If the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is able to adopt this work and make it part of what we do every day, there’s no reason any other organization in the country can’t do the same.”
Some of the work CMPD developed for its curriculum included modernized communication techniques between CMPD employees and their customers, the creation of “a day in the life” of a customer and employee videos, role playing and engagement scenarios. CMPD employees developed the training and curriculum, and CMPD employees have been conducting the training as well.
The initial phase of training included one hour of online work in the department’s online training system as well as a four-hour in-person classroom training at the Police Academy once the online training was completed.
All 2,500 CMPD employees have received both portions of this training. It is also offered to all incoming civilians and new recruits.
After launch, the department improved its customer satisfaction score (C-SAT) from 43% to 84%. The CMPD also implemented new body-worn camera tagging to capture positive interactions, de-escalation, community engagement and life-saving efforts totaling more than 1,600 positive tags in 2022. The CMPD Serves team has awarded more than 75 Acts of Excellence awards that celebrated the fantastic customer-centric work the CMPD men and women perform.
The next phase of training, set to launch in September at the Police Academy, will focus on application of the initial work, the importance of internal customers and employee wellness.
The CMPD Serves team produced a documentary that detailed the journey of the program including the inspiration for this concept, how the program came to fruition, reactions to the program launch, results and next steps for the effort.
For additional information about the CMPD Serves program or to request an interview, please contact the CMPD Serves team at CMPDserves@cmpd.org. For recruitment and application information, please visit www.JoinCMPD.com.
