LA town council approves final version of police manual
LAKE ARTHUR - Council members here have approved changes to the police department’s policy and procedure manual requested by police chief Kobi Turner last month.
Councilman Auldon Robinson said he was pleased with Turner’s changes.
“Some of the changes he made were very beneficial to the police force. One in particular was about when there was money involved in any of the police transactions,” he said. “Previously, only one person was needed for dealing with money, so one change he made makes it to where two or three people need to be involved when there is money being handled.”
Robinson said the changes in the policy manual were appropriate and overdue.
“I think it’s an absolute good the changes he made,” he said. “He did a lot of homework with going in and making those changes that make sure everyone in the police department is being accountable. They are great changes and well-needed.”
Turner worked on the changes to the manual over the course of several months. In May, he said the manual that was currently in use was outdated and in need of updating. All of his suggested changes were approved.
“We had a meeting to hand out the manual and we hit on a couple of things that will be in effect immediately,” Turner said. “Tattoos now have to be covered with sleeves on officers for example,” he said.
Turner said this manual will provide the department with more structure.
“I’m trying to make our officers look more professional and for our department to be more professional overall,” he said. “We want to build more structure overall so we can better serve the town of Lake Arthur.”
Another change that was made to the manual was tweaking guidelines dictating how officers of the department should act on social media due to isolated incidents of some officers failing to best represent the police force, Turner said.
Some changes made to the manual are partially based on the Welsh Police Department’s manual, members of which helped Turner with the updating process.