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Chapter 11. Establishment of Policies and <br />Procedures <br />How will I carry out the day-to-day operations of the agency? How can 1 <br />ensure that the policies and procedures help to achieve the goals and meet <br />the community's needs? <br />It is strongly recommended that policies and procedures from existing oversight <br />agencies be carefully studied before deciding what's best for the new or strengthened <br />agency. The Appendix section includes links to NACOLE member organizations, as <br />well as international resources, with examples of enabling legislation, regulations, and <br />procedures from agencies across the United States. When contacted directly, many <br />agencies are ready and willing to candidly discuss the pros and cons of their own <br />structures, policies, and procedures. <br />Oversight agencies will be well served to consider the following issues when <br />establishing their day-to-day operational policies and practices: <br />1. Complaint screening method and criteria <br />2. Strategies for looking beyond the police department's disciplinary system and <br />individual cases of alleged misconduct <br />3. Identifying opportunities for proactively and collaboratively working with law <br />enforcement agencies to improve operations and internal systems of <br />accountability <br />4. Selection criteria for volunteer board and committee members <br />5. Training expectations <br />6. Compensation for expenses of volunteers (i.e., travel to and from meetings, <br />training, and professional development opportunities) <br />7. Levels of investigation, review, or monitoring available given available resources <br />Procedural impediments can sometimes result from a lack of up -front attention to <br />foreseeable variations in financial resources. For example, if an agency starts out with <br />sufficient funding to conduct formal, thorough, and complete investigations or reviews of <br />all complaints presented, and the agency commits to maintaining that standard <br />regardless of future declines in available budgetary funds, the agency may quickly find <br />itself subject to case backlogs that are sure to negatively impact its credibility in the <br />community. Depending on the security of funding, it may therefore be preferable for <br />some agencies to focus their resources on those complaints or issues determined to <br />have a significant policy impact on the community as a whole. <br />31 <br />65D-160 <br />