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VA Town Lets Citizens Review Officers Online

Citizens can use a star-based system to rate officers on their communication, listening skills and fairness. The responses are anonymous and can be completed any time after the interaction to encourage people to give honest assessments.

After every significant encounter with residents, officers in Warrenton, VA, are required to hand out a QR code, which is on the back of their business card, asking for feedback on the interaction.

Through a series of questions, citizens can use a star-based system to rate officers on their communication, listening skills and fairness. The responses are anonymous and can be completed any time after the interaction to encourage people to give honest assessments, the Washington Post reports.

The program, called GuardianScore, is supposed to give police departments a tool to evaluate their force on more than arrests and tickets.

As of May, GuardianScore was active in three jurisdictions with relatively low crime rates: in Warrenton, at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa.

So far, the number of people stopped who actually fill out the survey is low.

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