Waltham Mayor To Review Police Department Policies, Procedures

WALTHAM, MA — Mayor Jeannette McCarthy said she is looking into what it would take to have an impartial review of the police department policies, procedures and ordinances, in addition to this year's department accreditation process.

Every three years since the police department was first accredited in the 1999, the first in the state to do so, the department's policies are reviewed for reaccreditation. The last time the city's police department was reviewed for accreditation was in 2017. Each year, the process entails a visit from commission-appointed assessors who are police officers from neighboring departments to confirm compliance with professional standards of the Massachusetts Police Accrediation Commission. Those assessors look at 159 of more than 200 mandatory standards to see if the department is in compliance.

"These carefully selected standards impact officer and public safety, address high liability/risk management issues, and generally promote operational efficiency throughout an agency," according to the commission that administers the program.

On Aug. 4, the mayor announced in addition to that regular audit, she is planing to research impartial assistance and then "Impartial review policies, procedures and ordinances," she told Patch.

The review comes as police departments across the state and the nation are under a spotlight amid a social justice movement.