POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- The city of Poughkeepsie is sending surveys to about 3,000 residents (about 10 percent of the city's population) to give police constructive pieces of their minds.

Mayor and former police officer Rob Rolison joined Police Chief Thomas Pape outside Poughkeepsie City Hall on Thursday afternoon, announcing that surveys are going out immediately and that they plan to adjust police policy based on what the surveys find.

The short surveys are based on feelings: how people feel about their communities and how they feel about interactions they have had with Poughkeepsie police officers.

"Unless you know how people feel about you, feel about city government and feel about policing, we can't make those necessary adjustments to make policing better in the city of Poughkeepsie," Mayor Rolison said, stressing the importance of high participation in the surveys.

Mayor Rolison said the city has worked closely with experts at Marist College to develop the surveys; He said Marist's experts will collect data from the surveys and help police make sense of it.

Chief Pape said he plans to have all the surveys collected by October 12 and that if any areas of town show low participation in the weeks leading up to that date, more surveys will be sent to residents in those areas to make sure all wards are properly represented.

He also said that based on the feedback, changes will be made to the department's training courses on implicit bias.

Mayor Rolison said he is considering using a similar polling method to find out how community members feel about other city departments.

While the survey release has been planned for over a year, the projected cost is between $7,000 and $8,000 -- Pape said some of the costs are covered through a grant.