We'll be there for the Community.
Your department currently is operating with policy and a response philosophy that is in line with the new Washington State law enforcement reforms that took effect on July 25th. If you call for police service, we will continue to respond and assess how we can best contribute to positive solutions to community problems. As of June 2021, we achieved certification from the CJTC that all of our operations staff have received their required crisis intervention training. We are currently prioritizing the patrol tactics training as our next training priority. To read about some of the great work your department is doing, see my article from the North County Outlook: MPD officers dedicated to serving the community.
During the second half of 2021, we will continue working on our goals of improving community safety & reducing crime. We’ve worked hard as a team through the six-month pilot of the embedded mental health program. We are grateful to the State and WASPC for awarding our agency collaborative a $262,500 grant to fund embedded mental health crisis responders in Marysville, Tulalip, Arlington, and Lake Stevens. Over the next year, we will continue to seek opportunities to increase the efficiencies of our current embedded social worker and related programs to improve them. To read about our accomplishments last year, check out our Annual Report.
We are working as a police family to help improve officer safety, wellness & training. Our peer support team has recently recruited additional members and is seeking continuing training. We offer our officers clinical support and plan to expand our wellness offerings.
Active recruiting and advertising campaigns are underway to attract high-quality talent to our community. We are also taking steps to retain the quality employees that serve here in your community.
Your department will continue to focus on the six pillars of 21st century policing. These pillars include building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, community policing and crime reduction, training and education, and officer wellness and safety.
A lot of great work has been accomplished in the past year. We’ve increased transparency by participating in the FBI’s national force reporting structure and enhancing our professional standards practices. We’ve also established a new policy manual available to the public. The manual includes a biased-based policing policy, addresses potential impeachment disclosure, and policy and procedure on addressing hate crimes. Our department continues to seek to modernize our policy and practices as we prepare for Washington State accreditation.
We’ll continue to remain responsive to our community and stakeholders and are focused on providing professional policing services you can rely upon. We welcome all compliments and complaints. Thank you for the trust you place in us to serve our community. Yours in service,
