Council adopts updated Imperial Police Department policy manual

The Imperial City Council on July 2 approved updates to the Imperial Police Department's policy and procedures manual, revisions prepared and maintained through Lexipol to incorporate recent legislative changes and law-enforcement preferred practices.

The chief said the department was "sorely out of date" when he reviewed the manual after taking office and that the Lexipol-maintained update compiled several years of changes into a single, large update. He told the council the manual underwent legal review before presentation and that personnel had worked to align department policy with state-level mandates and best practices.

Council members praised the work and asked questions about implementation. One council member asked the chief to ensure uniform choices do not give an impression of an informal or inappropriate culture, saying, "I don't like the cowboy hats chief... I just want you to make it, like, very crystal clear to your officers that we are not cowboy cops." The chief responded, "Understood."

The chief said the department intends to move to smaller, more frequent updates rather than infrequent, large revisions: "So, ideally, it should be every 6 months."

The motion to adopt the manual updates passed 5-0.