Attachments

Attachment A. Cognitive Interview Protocol
DATE: ___ ___ / ___ ___ / 2 0 22
M M
D D
START TIME: ___ ___ : ___ ___ AM / PM

Hello, I’m [NAME] with RTI, calling on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Thanks for agreeing to help us develop and test questions for future law enforcement surveys at BJS.
This call will take about 30 minutes. If this time still works for you, I’d like to start with a short summary
of the goals for today’s call and explain a bit about how I’ll conduct the interview.
IF NO LONGER A GOOD TIME, OFFER TO RESCHEDULE
IF STILL GOOD TIME, CONTINUE

The United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed changes to the way
information on race and ethnicity is collected by the Federal government. The purpose of this
conversation is to get your feedback on draft questions to help BJS understand law enforcement
agency’s ability to collect such data if changes are implemented.
Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to my questions. One of our main goals
is to draft questions that make sense, so if anything about the questions is confusing or unclear, you
can help by pointing this out to me. Also, if you’re not sure how you would respond to any of the draft
questions or are not able to answer any of the questions, please let me know.
I am interested in hearing all your feedback, but because there is a lot to discuss, sometimes I might ask
that we move on to the next question before you’ve had a chance to share everything on your mind. At
the end of the interview, you can share any important feedback that you didn’t have a chance to share
earlier. Your participation is completely voluntary, and you do not have to answer any question you do
not wish to, but your responses will help improve our data collections.
Do you have any questions before we begin?

First, I’d like to ask about how your agency collects and stores information about race and ethnicity of
your sworn and nonsworn personnel.
•

How is the information on staff race and ethnicity collected? (e.g., questionnaire, observation,
self-report vs. proxy, mode of collection)?
o Where is that information stored? Who has access to it?
o When is that information collected? Is it ever updated? When? How often? Under what
circumstances?
o Is that information available for every [employee] for most, for some, or for a few?

Next, I have a few questions about the race and ethnicity information your agency collects.
• What race and/or ethnicity categories are used in your records?
o Probe on categories/fields in records and if they follow current federal standards
(American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian
or Other Pacific Islander, and White) or something else.
• What category names or labels are used in your system(s)?
• Do your records system(s) provide a way to record staff who identify as multi-racial or of more
than one ethnicity?
•

OMB currently recommends that federal agencies collect information on race using a minimum of
5 reporting categories (American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American,
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White). One of OMB's proposals is to add a new
category for Middle Eastern or North African (MENA). Do your systems include information
about whether a staff member is Middle Eastern or North African? Would you be able to
respond to a survey with counts of how many of your staff identify as Middle Eastern or North
African?

•

Do your information systems collect information about employees’ race/ethnicity that is more
detailed than the five recommended race categories?
o For example, do your records systems include information on an employee’s specific
ethnic background, such as whether an Asian officer is of Chinese or Korean descent, or
whether a Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander officer is of Samoan or Tongan descent?

•

Do your systems collect additional information about staff members who are Hispanic/Latino?
o Are you able to provide any more detailed information on this item? For example,
whether a Hispanic/Latino officer is of Mexican or Cuban descent?

General Questions:
• Are there any race or ethnicity terms that we have asked about today that you aren’t familiar
with? Tell me more about those.
•

What other issues related to the collection of information on race and ethnicity are important
to your agency that you believe would be important for BJS to know before changing the way
we collect this information?

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide feedback. Your responses to this interview will be
summarized to better understand the impact revisions may have on reporting. The Office of
Management and Budget has released their initial proposals for revising the federal race and ethnicity
standards (Directive No. 15) for public comment. The feedback of state and local agencies that collect
and provide data into federal data collections is critical and referenced many times in OMB’s initial
proposal. If you would like to provide feedback directly to OMB that will become part of the public
record, please let us know and we can email you with a link to the federal register.

Attachment B. Cognitive Interview Invitation Email
TO: <>
SUBJECT: Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA) – Special Request for
Assistance
BODY OF E-MAIL:
Dear <>,
Thank you for your recent participation in the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement
Agencies (CSLLEA). Your contribution is critical for federal and state agencies and policymakers
who rely on these important data to make decisions and set budgets that impact law
enforcement.
As part of your census submission, you indicated that your agency would be willing to assist with
additional efforts to test data collection initiatives and develop new and improved research on
law enforcement agencies. Recently, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has begun exploring
potential changes to its survey items about race and ethnicity. We are hoping that your agency
would be willing to assist in this effort by participating in a short telephone interview
(approximately 30 minutes) to help determine how law enforcement agencies like yours would
respond to this potential change and the level of burden that it might entail.
We will begin conducting interviews in March and will reach out to your agency via phone to
schedule. If you know that your agency will not be able to assist in this effort, please let us know
by responding to this email. Conversely, you may suggest a date and time in March that would
work well for a member of your agency who is knowledgeable about record keeping and data
reporting to be interviewed by our team.
If you have any questions about this request, please contact me at 919-316-3988 or
tksmith@rti.org. If you have any general comments about the CSLLEA or other BJS law
enforcement research activities, please contact Elizabeth Davis at 202-598-9782 or
Elizabeth.Davis@usdoj.gov.
Thank you in advance for your help with this effort to improve BJS’ data collection efforts. We
look forward to speaking with you soon!
Best regards,
Tim Smith
CSLLEA Project Director
RTI International
tksmith@rti.org

Attachment C. Nonresponse Follow-up Email
TO: <>
SUBJECT: Census of State and Local Law Enforcement (CSLLEA) – Special Request for Assistance
BODY OF E-MAIL:
Dear <>,
A few weeks ago, I sent an email inviting your agency would be willing to assist in this effort by
participating in a short telephone interview (approximately 30 minutes) to help determine how
law enforcement agencies like yours collect and maintain staff demographic information.
I understand that you and your staff may be unable to support this current research activity. A
member of our staff will call you in the next few days to answer any questions you might have
about this request and to see if we can find a day and time that would be convenient to conduct
the interview some time before the end of April.
In the meantime, if you would like to talk with me about this request, please call 919-316-3988
or send an email to me at tksmith@rti.org. If you have any general comments about the CSLLEA
or other BJS law enforcement research activities, please contact Elizabeth Davis at 202-598-9782
or Elizabeth.Davis@usdoj.gov.
Thank you in advance for your help with this effort to improve BJS’ data collection efforts. We
look forward to speaking with you soon!
Respectfully,
Tim Smith
CSLLEA Project Director
RTI International
tksmith@rti.org

Attachment D. Nonresponse Follow-up Phone Script
[IF CALL RINGS TO A GATEKEEPER]
Hello, this is <> calling about a special research effort we are conducting on behalf of
the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice. I am following up on an email message
that we sent to <> about this request. May I speak with <>?
[IF LEAVING MESSAGE ON VOICEMAIL OR WITH A GATEKEEPER]
Hello, this is <> calling about a special research effort we are conducting on behalf of
the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice. I am following up on an email message
that we sent to <> inviting someone from your agency to participate in a 30-minute phone
interview about how your agency collects and maintains demographic information on your staff.
Please give me a call back at 866-881-3251 for further information or to schedule a convenient time for
the interview. Thank you and have a good day!
[IF CALL REACHES OR IS ROUTED TO AGENCY POC]
Hello, this is <> calling about a special research effort we are conducting on behalf of
the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the U.S. Department of Justice. I am following up on an email message
that we sent to you inviting someone from your agency to participate in a 30-minute phone interview
about how your agency collects and maintains demographic information on your staff.
I wanted to confirm that you received the email.
[IF QUESTIONS ABOUT THE INTERVIEWS]
−

The information we gather during the interview will be used by the Bureau of Justice Statistics
to (1) increase understanding of how agencies collect and store race and ethnicity data on
sworn and nonsworn staff, and (2) determine the feasibility of including more detailed questions
on race and ethnicity on law enforcement administrative surveys.

[IF QUESTIONS ABOUT COGNITIVE INTERVIEW PROCESS]
−
−

We’re requesting input from around 50 law enforcement agencies.
Input involves:
 Scheduling a time to talk with an RTI representative for about 30 minutes by
phone
 Speaking with the representative at the scheduled timeslot to discuss how their
agency collects and maintains demographic information on race and ethnicity of
sworn and nonsworn staff

[IF AGENCY HAS NOT RECEIVED EMAIL]
−

Let me review the information we have on file for your agency.
[REVIEW E-MAIL ADDRESS.]

[IF AGENCY IS WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN COGNITIVE INTERVIEW]
−

Great! Let me get some information from you so that I can send you the invitation and schedule
a time for you to talk with a member of our team.
[REVIEW E-MAIL ADDRESS.]
[IDENTIFY AN INTERVIEW TIMESLOT THAT WORKS FOR POC AND CI TEAM MEMBER AND
SCHEDULE INTERVIEW. CONFIRM THE POC WHO WILL BE HANDLING THE INTERVIEW FROM THE
AGENCY, IN CASE IT IS SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE INITIAL CONTACT.]