OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS, TRAINING AND PLANNING

CONTACT:  Captain Sharon Moore, samoore@ci.marvyille.tn.us

The newest division of the Maryville Police Department, the Office of Professional Standards, Training and Planning which was formed July 2005. This division is led by the Administrative Captain. Major responsibilites include:

Training has been cited as one of the most important responsibilities in any law enforcement agency. Training serves three (3) broad purposes. First, well trained officers are generally better prepared to act decisively and correctly in a broad spectrum of situations. Second, training results in greater productivity and effectiveness, and third, it fosters cooperation and unity of purpose. Furthermore, agencies are now being held legally accountable for the actions of their personnel and for failing to provide inital or remedial training, The Maryville Police Department recognizes the importance of training and is committed to providing the best training available to all personnel.
 
The administrative captain serves as the training officer and is responsible for:  all personnel meeting basic and in-service training requirements; providing career development,training and counseling; supervising department field training and evaluation program; field training officers and recruits; managing intern programs and relationships with local colleges and universities' and maintaining training records and skill inventories.

Accreditation.  Maryville Police Department was first accredited in November 1990, making it the first agency within the East Tennessee area and the third agency within the State of Tennessee to earn this distinction. The accreditation process provides law enforcement agencies an opportunity to voluntarily demonstrate that they meet an established set of professional standard. Accreditation includes such elements as:

* Development of a comprehensive, well thought out, uniform set of written directives. This is one of the most successful methods of reaching administrative and operational goals, while also providing direction to personnel.
* Providing the necessary reports and analyses a CEO needs to make fact-based, informed management decisions.
* Developing a preparedness program be put in place so an agency is ready to address natural or man-made critical incidents.
* Developing or improving an agency's relationship with the community.
* Stengthening an agency's accountability, both within the agency and the community, through standards that clearly define authority, performance and responsibilities.
* Assisting in limiting an agency's libility and risk exposure because it demonstrates that internationally recognized standards for law enforcement have been met, as verified by a team of independent outside CALEA trained assessors.
* Facilitating an agency's pursuit of professional excellence.

The Commmission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) structure is a Commission Board composed of twenty-one (21) members. Eleven (11) must be law enforcement practitioners; the balance is selected from public and private sectors. Generally, they reflect a representation from local, state/provincial and international law enforcement and public safety organizations, along with business, academia, the judiciary and state/provincial and local government. The Commissioners are appointed by the four founding law enforcement organizations and serve without compensation.

General Orders. The general orders of the Maryville Police Department are published for the information and guidance of all employees of the department. Unlike rules and regulations, which must be complied by everyone, policies and procedures allow some degree by flexibility. Policies serve to provide guidelines which give the employee the generally accepted ways of acting and a framework of things to consider when making decisions. Procedures are the normally accepted step-by-step ways of doing a particular task and are usually used in traning new employees or for introducing a new or revised methods to all.
The general orders of the Maryville Police Department are divided as follows:
 
TAB 1: General Orders relating to department administration
TAB 2: General Orders relating to departmental personnel practices
TAB 3: General Orders relating to police operations and activities
TAB 4: General Orders relating to departmental records functions
TAB 5: General Orders relating to comunications functions

If you wish to obtain a copy of the General Orders from the Maryville Police Department, please contact Administrative Captain Sharon Moore at (865) 273-3808 or e-mail her at samoore@ci.maryville.tn.us

Links:

Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement (CALEA)