Best questions for police officer survey about internal affairs process

Here are some of the best questions for a police officer survey about the internal affairs process, plus tips to help you craft them. If you want to generate your own survey in seconds, you can build an AI-powered survey now with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for a police officer survey about internal affairs process

Open-ended questions give police officers the chance to share their real thoughts, beyond simple yes/no or multiple-choice. These are best when you want honest stories, real problems, or meaningful advice—insight you’d rarely get from rigid formats. Every police force is different, so open-ended feedback lets you discover context that matters most to your team.

Here are 10 open-ended survey questions that will prompt actionable feedback:

1. How would you describe your overall experience with the internal affairs process at our department?

2. What aspects of the internal affairs investigation process, if any, do you find most fair or transparent?

3. Can you share an example of a time when the internal affairs process worked well (or poorly) for you or a colleague?

4. What challenges, if any, have you encountered during your interactions with internal affairs officers?

5. In your opinion, how could the internal affairs process better support officers throughout an investigation?

6. How do you feel internal affairs outcomes affect morale within the department?

7. What additional resources or training, if any, would help improve your experience with internal affairs investigations?

8. To what extent do you believe internal affairs investigations are conducted independently?

9. How has your perspective on accountability in law enforcement been shaped by your experience with internal affairs?

10. If you could change one thing about how internal affairs cases are managed, what would it be and why?

Open-ended questions can uncover deeper perceptions, echoing what recent research found: when officers feel the process is fair, they are far more willing to participate in and accept internal reviews, boosting both compliance and engagement. [1]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for a police officer survey about internal affairs process

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for quantifying opinions or surface-level patterns—especially if you need to compare across teams or track trends over time. Sometimes officers find it easier to choose from a short list rather than writing an answer from scratch; it also breaks the ice for deeper follow-ups.

Question: How confident are you that internal affairs investigations are handled impartially?

• Very confident

• Somewhat confident

• Not confident

• Unsure

Question: Have you ever participated in or been the subject of an internal affairs investigation?

• Yes, as a participant

• Yes, as the subject

• No

• Prefer not to say

Question: What do you see as the biggest challenge facing internal affairs in our department?

• Lack of communication

• Perceived bias

• Limited resources

• Lack of transparency

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" Use a "why" follow-up whenever a single-select answer could mean different things, or you want richer context. For example, if an officer answers “Not confident” to impartiality, ask: “Why do you feel that way? Can you share an example?” This not only clarifies their position, but also uncovers deeper insight for reform.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? The "Other" option gives officers space to introduce entirely new concerns you haven’t considered, prompting open-ended follow-ups that can surface unexpected insights. Always include the option—and follow up with, "Please explain," if chosen.

NPS survey question for internal affairs process

Net Promoter Score (NPS) asks: "How likely are you to recommend the internal affairs process in our department to a fellow officer?" on a scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely). NPS can be powerful for measuring trust and overall satisfaction, especially if tracked over time. For policing, where legitimacy and trust are central, NPS pinpoints overall sentiment quickly, and the follow-ups reveal why officers are promoters or detractors. If you want to start with a ready-made NPS format, you can create an NPS survey for police officers in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

Few things matter more for quality feedback than a smart follow-up. Most surveys only scratch the surface, but dynamic follow-ups allow you to clarify, probe, or challenge a vague answer in ways that reveal the full story. With Specific, automatic follow-up questions are powered by AI and respond in realtime based on an officer's previous response—much like an expert interviewer would. This takes the pressure off admins to chase people via email and gives the process a natural, conversational flow. You can learn more about this on our AI follow-up questions page.

• Police Officer: "The complaint investigation was fine."

• AI follow-up: "Can you tell me what aspects of the investigation you found effective or satisfactory? Was there anything you felt could be improved?"

How many follow-ups to ask? In our experience, 2-3 follow-ups usually strike the best balance between depth and fatigue. If your purpose is clearer (for example, confirming a detail), only one will often do. Set your survey logic to skip to the next question once you’ve gathered what you need—Specific makes this easy to manage.

This makes it a conversational survey: Follow-ups transform static forms into real conversations, making every police officer feel heard and ensuring insights are actionable and nuanced.

AI analysis, open text, bulk feedback: AI can analyze volumes of open-ended responses, surfacing themes and summarizing takeaways so you don’t get bogged down. See how this works in our guide on analyzing responses with AI.

Conversational follow-ups are a new standard—try generating a police officer survey about internal affairs and see for yourself how intuitive and insightful it can be.

How to prompt ChatGPT or other GPTs for survey questions about internal affairs process

If you want to use GPT tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm survey content, start with a direct prompt like this:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for police officer survey about internal affairs process.

But the more context you provide, the better. Add information about your department size, your goals, and the challenges you’re addressing. For example:

I’m designing a confidential survey for police officers in a medium-sized department to evaluate their perceptions of the internal affairs process. Our goal is to uncover issues with fairness, communication, and morale so we can recommend improvements. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to capture useful and honest insights.

Next, ask the AI to help organize your questions:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Once you see categories (like "fairness," "communication," "resources"), you might decide to go deeper:

Generate 10 questions for the categories “perceived fairness,” “support during investigations,” and “departmental transparency.”

This method works great, whether you want ready-to-use questions or inspiration for tweaks that fit your exact context. If you want to skip the manual steps, Specific’s AI survey generator for police officers instantly creates a tailored survey with just a prompt.

What is a conversational survey?

Traditional forms are static and impersonal—one-way sheets where officers fill in boxes, often treating feedback as another administrative task. Conversational surveys, by contrast, feel more like a genuine exchange; every reply is acknowledged and, if needed, probed further with tailored follow-up questions. This dynamic approach keeps officers engaged, reduces survey fatigue, and surfaces details simple forms normally miss.

Why use AI for police officer surveys? Put simply, AI-powered survey tools lower the barrier to both creation and completion. For everyone running research on sensitive topics—like the internal affairs process—conversational AI ensures you ask the right follow-up questions, keep responses honest, and get powerful analysis without wading through endless long-form answers. With Specific, you get best-in-class conversational survey experiences—smooth for officers, illuminating for leadership, and easy for anyone to manage end to end.

Want a step-by-step walkthrough? Check out our guide to creating a police officer internal affairs survey using Specific.

See this internal affairs process survey example now

Get immediate, actionable feedback with a conversational survey that’s built for real police officers. Launch smarter surveys, capture deeper context, and analyze responses in minutes—not weeks. Try it and experience how Specific makes feedback simple, smart, and highly effective.