Council approves new policy manual for Police Department

“It’s a living, breathing thing and you needed to get it in everyone’s hands.”

The Pea Ridge Police Department has a new personnel policy for the first time in 24 years.

“It is a living, breathing thing,” Police Chief Lynn Hahn told city leaders.

“We will make updates regularly, but they will probably be small. We haven’t had one (a new manual) since 1995. There have been so many changes including Amazon, Google, Facebook … and we address that.”

Section 747 titled Using Social Networks for Investigative Purpose establishes guidelines for the “use of social media in preemployment background investigations, crime analysis, criminal intelligence development and criminal investigations,” according to the policy.

Council members unanimously approved Resolution 426 adopting the new manual with two council members, Steve Guthrie and Cody Keene, stating there was one issue about which they were concerned, but that was appropriately addressed. An emergency clause was also adopted, putting the policy manual into effect immediately.

“There was that one little thing and you handled it very quickly. I appreciate your due diligence,” Keene said.

“There probably needs a little work on that one issue, but I agree, it’s a living, breathing thing and you needed to get it in everyone’s hands,” Guthrie concurred.

Keene later explained that he had a concern about the word “refrain” in the policy stating that an off-duty officer should “refrain from carrying firearms when consuming alcoholic beverages.” (Section 6, Off-Duty Action). He said he expressed his concern to Hahn.

Hahn said the policy manual is from Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute and he conferred with the city attorney in making it applicable to Pea Ridge Police.

In an introductory letter to the council members, Hahn wrote: “Following is a copy of the new proposed police department policy manual. A great deal of time has been taken to ensure the manual includes the most important policies for a productive department. As the police chief, I will be constantly reviewing our operations and policies, so there will be updates on a more frequent basis from this point forward.

“The new policy manual is the first and most important step in avoiding liability and providing good and responsible policing. These policies provide a road map for officers to follow. All policies are consistent with state and federal laws and court decisions.

“After these policies are approved, we will be able to move forward with implementing the many procedural changes that are addressed in the policies.”

Hahn also wrote to all Police Department officers and employees asking them to review the document and welcomed recommendations on how to achieve a safer and more efficient operation.

Hahn said providing a policy manual was one of his primary goals when named as police chief.

Steve Guthrie, City Council member