As a professional policing organization, the Fitchburg Police Department is committed to continuous improvement and alignment with contemporary standards and best practices. In an effort to continue delivering a high level of service to our community, we have determined a thorough review and update of our policy and procedure is a top priority for 2021. A well-developed policy manual provides a set of expectations for department members and better informs the community we serve.
Maintaining and reviewing a policy manual is a resource intensive effort that involves monitoring legal updates, training and standards updates, and more. Our department is working with Lexipol, a vendor that specializes in this work, to facilitate this policy review and update over the course of this year. The updated policy and procedure manual will assist in our goal of becoming an accredited law enforcement agency. One of the most important pieces of this process is inclusion of the community we serve.
As part of our ongoing efforts to maintain transparency, accountability, and trust, we are sharing these policies with the community for their review. The goal of including the community in this process is two-fold. First, we hope to gain feedback and perspective that may influence policy modifications when feasible and applicable. Second, we believe this presents an opportunity for the department to better inform the community about our department, our policies, and the “why” behind how we operate. We hope both of these goals present opportunities for enhanced engagement with the community.
The process for the policy feedback is as follows:
• Policies will be posted on the police department website for a period of 3 weeks.
• There will be approximately 5 new policies added each week.
• Community members are encouraged to review the policies and provide feedback through the provided feedback link.
• The feedback will be reviewed and considered by the Lexipol Primary Workgroup
• After the three week period and feedback is review, the policy will become finalized and in place for the department. More information will be shared throughout this process to provide relevant updates and timelines.
If you have feedback pertaining to this process, the presented policies or if you have related questions, please email: policyfeedback@fitchburgwi.gov.