Police planning policy rewrite

After roughly 10 years since it last happened, the Kalispell Police Department is embarking on a yearlong rewrite of its policies.

According to Chief Roger Nasset, all 56 sections of the department’s policies — from dress code to use of force — are being reviewed, compared to those of other departments throughout the state and models posed by agencies nationwide, and then rewritten based on that review and the needs of the community.

“We’ve done it in the past where we’ve paid companies to come in and rewrite our policy, however we didn’t feel like we got the best policy that met the needs of our community,” Nasset said. “That’s why we’ve decided to do it in-house this year.”

He expects to give the policies and his notes, along with examples he collected, to teams of department employees by the end of the month with the plan that they will come back with a proposed updated version, which would then be reviewed by an administrative team.

Nasset hopes to have the completed policy rewrite ready to send to the legal department for review in six months, with the new policies in place by the beginning of 2015.

There is also another piece to Nasset’s plan.

“Our goal is to, for the first time, completely put our policy on our website,” he said. “It’s not a hidden document, it’s something that is open to everybody, just another incentive to get a very professional, accessible document. Everybody should know what we’re doing and how we do what we do.”

Prior to preparing for the policy rewrite, the department came together to create a new mission statement, values statement and motto.

Nasset said that of the total 45 officers and non-sworn employees, 29 participated (many of the rest were unable to participate because they were working). He said some of those involved were night-shift officers who cut into their sleep to come in and then had to go back to work that night.

For more information about the Kalispell Police Department, visit the organization’s website at www.kalispell.com/police.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.