GATE Programmatic form

NPS Form 10-201 (Rev. 09/2016) OMB Control No. 1024-0224

National Park Service Expiration Date 5/19/2019

PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW AND CLEARANCE PROCESS

FOR NPS-SPONSORED PUBLIC SURVEYS

The scope of the Programmatic Review and Clearance Process for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys is limited and will only include individual surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and residents of communities near parks. Use of the programmatic review will be limited to non-controversial surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and/or residents of communities near parks that are not likely to include topics of significant interest in the review process. Additionally, this process is limited to non-controversial information collections that do not attract attention to significant, sensitive, or political issues. Examples of significant, sensitive, or political issues include: seeking opinions regarding political figures; obtaining citizen feedback related to high-visibility or high-impact issues like the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, the delisting of specific Endangered Species, or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

SUBMISSION DATE: 07/17/2017

PROJECT TITLE: Gateway National Recreation Area 2017 Law Enforcement Survey

ABSTRACT: (not to exceed 150 words)

This proposed survey will encompass parks located in GATE and will be given in person by Park Rangers, U.S. Park Police Officers, and U.S Park Police Explorers, under the supervision of Park Police officers during peak visitation times. Information collected will be used by Park Police and NPS officials along with statics complied to improve quality of life, and improve existing or future Police services. At this time USPP is focused on the many different trends that have taken place in the last 25-30 years at both Parks by paying close attention to social demographics, crowding and crime stats. This survey will benefit USPP, and NPS managers understand planning needs that will keep park visitors, park property and all NPS employees safe. Information collected by the survey will also focus on personal safety and were to seek help.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name: Pat Tesis Title: Sergeant

Affiliation: Lead Investigator Phone: 718-338-3988

Address: 210 New York Ave. Staten Island New York 10305

Email: Pasquale_Tesi@NPS.GOV

PARK OR PROGRAM LIAISON CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name: Osborne Reaves Title: Lieutenant

Affiliation: Station Commander Phone: 718-338-3988

Address: 210 New York Ave. Staten Island New York

Email: Osborne_Reaves@nps.gov

PROJECT INFORMATION:

Where will the collection take place? Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE)

Sampling Period Start Date: 07/21/17 Sampling Period End Date: 10/01/2017

Type of Information Collection Instrument: (Check ALL that Apply)

 Mail-Back Questionnaire  Face-to-Face Interview  Focus Groups

 On-Site Questionnaire  Telephone Survey

 Other (List)

Will an electronic device be used to collect information?  No  Yes – Type of Device:

SURVEY JUSTIFICATION:

Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for park planning and development.

This proposed collection will be the first time that United States Park Police (USPP) and the National Park Service (NPS) has attempted understand visitor’s perceptions of personal safety and property at Gateway National Recreation Area (GATE). Snice the late 1970s, both Riis Park and Canarsie Pier have been patrolled by USPP with the same number of officers. While park visitation has increased, quality of life violations have not reported/ or enforced. This survey of visitors is needed by USPP to safely address the issues and concerns of visitor use, management and safety. The survey will:

• Collect visitor demographics

• Obtain information on personal safety

• Measure the perception of crime in the Park

• Understand visiting public feelings related to safe in the park

The information gathered will be used for future planning by providing:

• input on ways to improve visitor safety

• ways for USPP/NPS to design communication strategies to deal with crime deterrence

• data that will assist with a plan to secure park closures

• an understanding activities that are unsafe and create disturbances to others

• ways to monitor the safety and behavior of park visitors.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY:

1. Respondent Universe:

Any recreational visitor 16 years of age or older, who visit GATE (Riis Park and Canarsie Pier) during peak summer visitation periods (July 21 - August 31).

2. Sampling Plan / Procedures:

A systematic sampling method will be used to collect information using an on-site questionnaire. The sampling periods will occur mostly on weekends during high visitation periods from 10 am till 5 pm. The survey will be conducted by U.S. Park Police Explorers¹ⁱ under the supervision of Park Police Officers.

Table 1: Sampling Schedule Days per site

	Sampling Days Per Site
	July	August	Total
Canarsie Pier	2	6	8
RIIS Park Boardwalk	2	6	8
Total	4	12	16

Visitor groups will be randomly selected at intervals of 5 to 10 minutes at different areas in the park as they enter the sampling areas. Once a visitor group is intercepted and after a survey is completed, the next interval will begin. We will have staff of at least 8 USPP Explorers for 4 hours contacting at least 20 persons per hour at Canarsie. For Riis Park we will have 12 USPP Explorers for 6 hours contacting 20 persons per hour.

Table 2. Estimated Number of Visitor Contacts during Sampling Period

	Estimated Number of Visitor Contacts
Location	July	August	TOTAL
Canarsie Pier	640	125	225
Riis Park Boardwalk	1,440	500	900
TOTAL	2,080	625	1,125

3. Instrument Administration:

All on-site surveyors will be trained on all aspects of surveying: using sampling intervals, avoiding sampling bias, and handling all types of interviewing situations, especially safety of the visitor and interviewers. Quality control will be ensured by USPP staff and will make checks of all paperwork at the end of each survey day.

During the sampling period, the surveyors will ask each identified visitor or group if they will be willing to participate in the survey. For those who are willing to participate, the person in the group with the most recent birthday will be asked to complete the questionnaire. The initial contact time will be used to explain the purpose of the study. This should take about 2 minutes. The questionnaire will be verbally administered. Each respondent will be asked 16 questions and the surveyors will record answers their answers, this should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. Visitors refusing to participate will be asked to respond to the non-response check questions and then be thanked for their time and consideration. This process will be repeated at each sampling location during the sampling period. General observable characteristics (group size, gender, and time of day) will be recorded for all visitors refusing to answer the survey or the non-response check question.

4. Expected Response Rate / Confidence Level:

Because of the nature of the survey and the park personnel’s interaction with the visitors, we expect to contact 2,080 on-site visitors (Canarsie Pier n=640; and Riis Park n=1,440). At least 50% of all visitors contacted (n=1,040) will agree to complete as survey when asked. This will result in a combined total of 720 returned questionnaires at Riis Park and 320 at Canarsie Pier. The anticipated response rate for this collection is based upon similar NPS on-site surveys conducted at GATE.

Location	Initial Contacts	Acceptance 50%	Non-respondents (Soft refusals) 50%	Non-response survey 30%	Hard Refusals 70%
Canarsie Pier	640	320	320	96	224
RIIS Park	1440	720	720	216	504
TOTAL	2,080	1,040	1,040	312	728

5. Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:

During the initial contact, the interviewer will ask all contacted visitors the following three questions that will be used in a non-response bias analysis. Responses to these questions will be recorded by the survey interviewer on the survey contact log.

1. On this visit, how much time do you plan to spend within GATE? _____ Hours

2. What is your state or country of residence (if not US)? ____________________________

3. Please tell me how safe you felt in the park today?

• Very safe

• Somewhat safe

• either safe nor unsafe

• Somewhat unsafe

• Very unsafe

Responses to the non-response bias questions will be recorded for every contact, except “hard refusals” (any visitor refusing to participate in the study and refusing to answer the non-response bias questions). Results of the non-response bias check will be reported, and any implications for applicability of the survey results will be discussed. For all “hard refusals” observational data (group size, gender, and time of day) will be recorded. The number of refusals will be recorded and used to calculate the overall response rate for the collection at the park.

6. Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or instrument:

All questions in the survey were taken and formulated using a Law enforcement training and mind set. The survey was given to a random sample of eight U.S. Park Police officers during roll call. Testing time ranged from 7 to 12 minutes. This is how the average burden was calculated. The questions were also tested for readability and understanding. Other law enforcement agencies have used similar surveys to illicit information to help improve the services they provide to the public. Based on the pretesting efforts the questions were determined to be clear and the overall wording was easy to understand.

BURDEN ESTIMATES:

We plan to approach approximately 2,080 potential participants. From this, we expect that 50% (n=1,040) will agree to complete the on-site survey. The initial contact will take two minutes to explain the purpose of the study and additional 10 minutes to complete the on-site interview (1,040 x 12 minutes = 208 hours).

We expect that 50% of all visitors contacted (n=1,040) will refuse to participate in the study. We anticipate that 70% (n=728) of the refusals will completely decline to participate in the study we will record their reason for refusal (if given), and any additional observational data in the study log. For the remaining 30% (n=312) of the non-respondents we will ask them to answer the non-response check question and record any additional observational data in the study log We estimate that the remaining visitors refusing to participate in the study but agreeing to answer the non-response question will spend at least one minute answering the non-response bias questions (312 x 1 minute = 5 hours).

	Responses	Completion Time * (minutes)	Burden Hours
Combined Onsite Interviews		Initial Contact time added to completion time
Completed Interviews	1,040	12m	208
Non-response bias Check:	312	1m	5
Total burden requested under this ICR	1,352		213

REPORTING PLAN:

The study results will be presented in internal agency reports for USPP and NPS leadership and managers at the park. Response frequencies will be tabulated and measures of central tendency computed (e.g., mean, median, mode, as appropriate). The reports will be archived with the NPS Social Science Program for inclusion in the Social Science Studies Collection as required by the NSP Programmatic Approval Process. Hard copies will be available upon request.

NOTICES

Privacy Act Statement

General: This information is provided pursuant to Public Law 93-579 (Privacy Act of 1974), December 21, 1984, for individuals completing this form.

Authority: National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702)

Purpose and Uses: This information will be used by The NPS Information Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by or that are sponsored by the National Park Service.

Effects of Nondisclosure: Providing information is mandatory to submit Information Collection Requests to Programmatic Review Process.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

We are collecting this information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) and is authorized by the National Park Service Research mandate (54 USC 100702). This information will be used by The NPS Information Collections Coordinator to ensure appropriate documentation of information collections conducted in areas managed by or that are sponsored by the National Park Service. All parts of the form must be completed in order for your request to be considered. We may not conduct or sponsor and you are not required to respond to, this or any other Federal agency-sponsored information collection unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has reviewed and approved The National Park Service Programmatic Review Process and assigned OMB Control Number 1024-0224.

Estimated Burden Statement

Public Reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 60 minutes per collection, including the time it takes for reviewing instructions, gathering information and completing and reviewing the form. This time does not include the editorial time required to finalize the submission. Comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form should be sent to the Information Collection Clearance Coordinator, National Park Service, 1201 Oakridge Dr., Fort Collins, CO 80525.

1 https://www.nps.gov/subjects/uspp/explorers.htm

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RECORDS RETENTION - PERMANENT. Transfer all permanent records to NARA 15 years after closure. (NPS Records Schedule, Resource Page 1 of 8

Management And Lands (Item 1.A.2) (N1-79-08-1)).