La Palma Edward O. Ethell

1: Best practices goal: Current practices for improving county and city law enforcement agencies' policies and procedures may not ensure that these policies and procedures are evolving to a level of best practices. We disagree wholly. The La Palma Police Department has adopted the principles in sample policies drafted and approved by the Orange County Chiefs and Sheriffs Association after appropriate legal review, the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST), as well as those recommended by other professional organizations. In addition, the La Palma Police Department contracts with an independent private company (Lexipol, LLC) to annually review and update Department Policies, Procedures, Rules and Regulations. We believe these policies andrelatedprocedures riseto the level ofbestpractices. The Grand Jury report refers to adopting "best practices" as a guide for local police departments in developing their policies and procedures. Unfortunately, no such guide currently exists that would provide meaningful information on internal affairs practices in the State of California, or in policing across the country. The La Palma Police Department is committed to supporting efforts to develop a system of best practices for accepting, investigating, and resolving community member complaints of police misconduct, and is open to the review, consideration and implementation ofbest practices asthey are developed. Phone 714.690.3379 Fax714.523.7351 7792 Walker Street. LaPalma. California 90623-1770 I