April 21, 2015
State association awards ‘Recognized’ to Police Dept.
MURPHY (April 21, 2015) Murphy’s Police Department has been awarded the “Recognized” designation from the Texas Police Chiefs Association (TPCA) following an exhaustive internal review that measured its level of adherence to a comprehensive list of best practices, says Police Chief GM Cox, PhD.
“The men and women of the Murphy Police Department have clearly shown their commitment to maintaining a law enforcement agency with the highest level of integrity and professionalism,” he said. “The standards developed by the Texas Police Chiefs Association provide a way for the department to ensure that it is using the latest and most effective techniques available to peace officers.”
Over the last two years, the department, under the steady guidance of Services Manager Kim Parker, embarked on a process of examining compliance in areas such as policies, procedures, equipment, facilities, and operations based on the 166 best business practices for law enforcement, developed over a two-year period by Texas law enforcement officials and now used in conferring the designation of Recognized by TPCA to local police agencies.
“The designation confirms that our officers are on the leading edge of current best practices in our profession,” said Cox. “It also means, in a clear and unequivocal way, that we are meeting our professional obligations to the citizens, businesses and visitors to our city.”
To attain the designation, the highest level granted by the TPCA, the Murphy Police Department provided verifiable proof of compliance with each of the 166 best business practices, covering aspects such as appropriate use of force; protection of citizen rights; vehicle pursuits; property and evidence management; and patrol and investigative operations, among others. Some internal policies did not exist and were created, others required rewriting, and training on all of the changes was mandated.
An audit team from the TPCA reviewed the department’s operations and facilities, and interviewed the department’s staff. That assessment team developed a report of its findings to the organization’s Recognition Committee. The Committee reviewed the findings and voted affirmatively to award Recognized status to Murphy. The status is good for four years, with annual updates.
“The professionalism of our force has never been in question, but it’s very gratifying to see this kind of acknowledgement from a respected and independent outside source,” he said.
Murphy becomes the latest of only 111 Texas agencies to have achieved Recognized status. The department will be recognized at the Texas Police Chiefs Association annual conference next April.
More information on the program can be obtained by visiting www.texaspolicechiefs.org.
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