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Pillar Two: Policy and Oversight
The issues addressed in the first pillar of this report, building trust and legitimacy between law enforcement agencies and the communities we serve, underlie all questions of law enforcement policy and community oversight. If we are to carry out our responsibilities according to established policies, these policies must be reflective of community values and not lead to practices that result in disparate impacts on various segments of the community. Our policies also need to be clearly articulated to the community and implemented transparently so our agency will have credibility with our residents and the community can have faith that their guardians are always acting in their best interests.
Paramount among the policies of law enforcement organizations are those controlling use of force. Not only should there be policies for deadly and non-deadly uses of force but a clearly stated “sanctity of life” philosophy must also be in the forefront of every officer’s mind. This way of thinking should be accompanied by rigorous practical ongoing training in an atmosphere of nonjudgmental and safe sharing of views with fellow officers about how they behaved in use of force situations.
Data collection, supervision, and accountability are also part of a comprehensive systemic approach to keeping everyone safe and protecting the rights of all involved during police encounters.
ETPD Action on Pillar Two
- Voluntary External Policy Review
- Inspection Program
- Use of Force Reviews
- Early Intervention Program
- Data Driven Approach to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS)
ETPD has been in the forefront in developing and adhering to comprehensive policies on the use of force that include training, investigations, prosecutions, data collection, and information sharing. Our policies are clear, concise, and openly available for public inspection. The ETPD voluntarily submits its policies and practices for remote and on-site reviews to ensure our policies and practices reflect law enforcement best practices. ETPD has been nationally accredited since 2011 and is considered the top 1% of municipal law enforcement agencies in the
country. Accreditation is a voluntary process where departments are mandated to adhere to best practices on a state and nation level.
As of June 2020, ETPD is only 1 of 9 municipal police departments in NJ to be nationally accredited. Nationally – there are only 457 of 12,300+ municipal police departments in the country to receive this national certification.
ETPD was also the first department in the State of NJ to receive both national accreditation and state accreditation. We are only one of three agencies in the State of NJ to be both state and nationally accredited.
In 2015, the Evesham Police Department expanded our Internal Affairs division in order to expand our agency’s ability to inspect our officers work to ensure accountability. Our IA unit inspects body worn camera footage, MVR footage, reports, trackstar reports (vehicle speed and operations), uniforms, equipment etc. on a weekly basis. The inspections allow us to randomly review all of our staff to ensure all of our officers at operating at the highest levels while be in conformance with agency policy, rules and regulations, local, state and federal laws and regulations. The inspection process is an essential mechanism for making evaluations of the quality of the department operation, the attainment of goals, the need for additional resources and for measuring the degree of control maintained throughout the agency. The inspection of uniformed personnel assures that members of the department are properly attired and outfitted, and present a positive, dedicated and a highly accountable workforce.
The Evesham Police Department implemented a program that made ETPD as one of the only agencies in the area who require four independent levels of review during a use of force incident. The first level requires an immediate response from the supervisor to investigate and interview all witnesses in real time. The second level is reviewed by the Operations Commander who reviews the officers report, supervisor report and all videos and reports. The third level is the Internal Affairs Bureau, who also reviews all of the reports/videos along with Operations Captain review. Finally, the Chief of Police reviews all of the prior four levels of reviews and provides signature on the final conclusion.
In 2011, the Evesham Police Department developed ETPD’s Early Intervention Program (EIP). The goal of the EIP program is to provide early intervention to employees who meet established criteria. The Evesham Township Police Department has a responsibility to its employees and the community to identify and assist employees who show symptoms of job stress or personal problems. Such symptoms may be exhibited in on-the-job performance behaviors that results in complaints from citizens or may be indicated in the frequency of use-of-force incidents. The Evesham Township Police Department has existing programs available to assist employees, including- Cop-2-Cop Assistance Program, and other counseling, which are available to employees on a voluntary and policy-mandated basis. In order to enhance these services, the Department has implemented the Early Intervention Program (EIP).
ETPD also collects, maintains, and analyzes demographic data on all detentions (stops, frisks, searches, summons, and arrests). Our agency conducts thorough collections for all of our officer’s statistical data to include race, gender, age and residency for all contacts made in the field to include motor vehicle and pedestrian contacts.
In the 21st Century Task Force Report, it states that Law enforcement agencies should refrain from practices requiring officers to issue a predetermined number of tickets, citations, arrests, or summonses, or to initiate investigative contacts with citizens for reasons not directly related to improving public safety, such as generating revenue. ETPD also mandates that the identification of the racial and ethnic composition of persons stopped, cited and arrested by the Evesham Township Police Department. On a semi-annual basis, Evesham Township calculates and reviews all of the above historical data. The arrest and stop data will reveal the racial and ethnic breakdown of those stopped, cited and arrested for specific offenses in Evesham Township. In order to facilitate comparative analysis of these data, per capita stop, citation and arrest rates for particular racial and ethnic groups is calculated. Evesham Township U.S. Census population data will be used to calculate these rates. These rates will reveal how many Asians, Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and Whites were stopped, cited or arrested for various offenses per 1,000 Evesham
Township residents of each racial/ethnic group. Because some of the people arrested or stopped may reside outside of Evesham, these rates will not be exact, but will provide a useful estimate of the degree to which the practice in question is differentially affecting Evesham Township residents. During the semi-annual review, all members of the police department are advised of their individual biased based review statistics to ensure that there are no identified issues or tendencies that need to be immediately remediated through training, counseling or discipline. The results of the meeting are included in each officer’s performance evaluation jackets along with a final report submitted to the Chief of Police.
ETPD also collects, maintains, and analyzes demographic data on all detentions (stops, frisks, searches, summons, and arrests). Our agency conducts thorough collections for all of our officer’s statistical data to include race, gender, age and residency for all contacts made in the field to include motor vehicle and pedestrian contacts.
In the 21st Century Task Force Report, it states that Law enforcement agencies should refrain from practices requiring officers to issue a predetermined number of tickets, citations, arrests, or summonses, or to initiate investigative contacts with citizens for reasons not directly related to improving public safety, such as generating revenue. ETPD also mandates that the identification of the racial and ethnic composition of persons stopped, cited and arrested by the Evesham Township Police Department. On a semi-annual basis, Evesham Township calculates and reviews all of the above historical data. The arrest and stop data will reveal the racial and ethnic breakdown of those stopped, cited and arrested for specific offenses in Evesham Township. In order to facilitate comparative analysis of these data, per capita stop, citation and arrest rates for particular racial and ethnic groups is calculated. Evesham Township U.S. Census population data will be used to calculate these rates. These rates will reveal how many Asians, Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and Whites were stopped, cited or arrested for various offenses per 1,000 Evesham
Township residents of each racial/ethnic group. Because some of the people arrested or stopped may reside outside of Evesham, these rates will not be exact, but will provide a useful estimate of the degree to which the practice in question is differentially affecting Evesham Township residents. During the semi-annual review, all members of the police department are advised of their individual biased based review statistics to ensure that there are no identified issues or tendencies that need to be immediately remediated through training, counseling or discipline. The results of the meeting are included in each officer’s performance evaluation jackets along with a final report submitted to the Chief of Police.
In 2013, the Evesham Police Department instituted the Data Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety Operational model (DDACTS). DDACTS integrates location-based crime and traffic crash data to determine the most effective methods for deploying law enforcement and other resources. Drawing on the deterrent value of highly visible traffic enforcement and the knowledge that crimes often involve motor vehicles, the goal of DDACTS is to reduce crime, crashes, and traffic violations across Evesham Township. DDACTS provides a strong direction to our staff in the area of traffic enforcement since DDACTS deployments are based solely off of location, day of the week, time and more importantly causative factors. This evidenced based deployment of staff increases our agency’s effectiveness as a law enforcement agency and builds mutual trust and respect with Evesham Township’s diverse groups and community.
ETPD is proud of our successful deployment of our personnel in our established DDACTS Zone. Our DDACTS operational model has been proven to be an effective and efficient manner of addressing the most consistent social harms affecting our community. ETPD sets aggressive goals to lower crashes, shoplifting's, burglaries and increase DWI arrests. As a result of the hard work and dedication of the men and women of ETPD, the following results were achieved inside the DDACTS Zone:
2019 Annual Statistical Review:
2% decrease in Motor Vehicle Accidents
No increase in DWIs
19% decrease in shopliftings
39% decrease in burglaries
ETPD is proud of our successful deployment of our personnel in our established DDACTS Zone. Our DDACTS operational model has been proven to be an effective and efficient manner of addressing the most consistent social harms affecting our community. ETPD sets aggressive goals to lower crashes, shoplifting's, burglaries and increase DWI arrests. As a result of the hard work and dedication of the men and women of ETPD, the following results were achieved inside the DDACTS Zone:
2019 Annual Statistical Review:
2% decrease in Motor Vehicle Accidents
No increase in DWIs
19% decrease in shopliftings
39% decrease in burglaries
