Police Policy Creation

Goshen Police Department policies are necessary to provide specific direction to our officers in the preferred manner of how our police duties are to be performed. Policies provide proven method requirements that have been vetted for their legality as well as best practice. Policies usually are in the fields of high liability or officer conduct related topics. No policy is established for the Goshen Police Department without the approval of the Goshen Board of Public Works and Safety.

Initially, the content of specific policies comes from many sources to include state law, case law, city policy, instructor training in relation to the topic, and administrative preference. The particular policy is drafted and provided to the Goshen Legal Department for review. Goshen Legal Department reviews the need of the policy and content within the policy to ensure it is in the best practice and conforms to all legal laws or requirements. After this, the policy is presented to the Goshen Board of Public Works. This board reviews this policy and in a public meeting may ask questions or make statements in reference to the policy. In addition, any member of the public may speak or ask questions reference the policy. This all occurs prior to any policy being voted on by the board. When all questions or statements have been made, the board will take a vote to determine if the policy will be adopted. The board also has the choice to approve portions of the policy and may add modifications should they choose.

Once a policy is adopted and in place, it is distributed to the Goshen Police Department. Yearly the Goshen Police Department reviews each of the adopted policies to determine if the information is current and still accurate. This review is done by the police executive staff with the assistance of the Indiana State Certified Instructors in those particular fields. There are times where tactics have changed, case law changes, law changes, or the preference of how situations are to be handled changes. When this occurs, the appropriate changes are made and it is again presented to the Goshen Legal Department for their review. It again must go before the Board of Public Works and Safety for discussion in a public meeting prior to any vote to adopt the changes. In addition to the department and city review of policies, the insurance company for the city reviews department policies to ensure they are appropriate and conform to the requirements they need in order to provide insurance to the city and officers while performing official duties.

The Goshen Police Department has found this method to be the most accountable and transparent way to establish and adopt policies for the community we serve. See an illustrated version of the process below.