Strategy #7
Development of Proper Policies
Without policies to serve as guidelines for the agency, members of that agency may not know the direction or intent of the agency’s executives.
Background
Policies should be broad-based, but still directional in nature, reflecting the administration’s intent. Without policy, each officer may conduct her daily affairs in a way that is inconsistent with the agency’s mission and goals.
Actions
- Train agency personnel in the preparation of meaningful, purposeful policy.
- Identify the agency’s value statement and goals, inclusive of traffic safety.
- Specify, in policy, the priority ascribed to traffic safety and its direct correlation to the agency’s mission of saving lives and protecting property.
- Assess the need for policy development
Benefits
- The specific identification of traffic safety as a mainstay of the agency’s foundation will help clarify the importance the law enforcement executive ascribes to it and will ensure that it does not get lost among the agency’s multiple priorities.
- Agency members will know there is internal, administrative support behind their traffic safety activities.
- The agency’s governing body and the public will know that traffic safety is not an afterthought or an activity that is conducted if, and when, the agency has nothing else to do. The policy can stand alone to inform the public of the agency’s intent and the correlation of that intent with its mission, value statement and goals.
Other Considerations
- Traffic safety is sometimes relegated to a lesser priority (or no priority) compared to other current issues, even though it is still an area in which law enforcement can make significant positive strides.
- Law enforcement personnel occasionally view traffic enforcement as a secondary assignment or one of lesser stature, when in fact it should remain, or be elevated to, a high priority.
- The interrelationship of traffic enforcement, traffic safety, and crime prevention or crime resolution is often overlooked.
- The Highway Safety Desk Book and The Police Traffic Services Policies and Procedures Manual, both developed by the IACP Highway Safety Committee, provide a ready reference for law enforcement executives on policy and procedure recommendations.