Mansfield Police take top honors in Chicago
WickedLocal.com – The Mansfield Police Department recently received the International Association of Police Chiefs’ (IACP) Leadership in Community Police Award.
Police Chief Ron Sellon was on hand in Chicago in October for the IACP’s Leadership in Policing Award Banquet where the award was presented. The banquet wrapped up the 126th IACP conference which included an address from President Donald Trump.
“These winners represent initiative, innovation, and excellence in law enforcement practices in the areas of community safety, emerging issues, investigations, leadership, national security, transnational crime and transportation safety,” the IACP website states.
Sellon said the IACP award justifies the last six years of initiatives put in place since he became chief in 2013. Among the efforts cited in the award is Mansfield’s problem-orientated policing program.
The award also recognized the department for programs like the 2018 haunted house at the station, the dunk tank at Family Fun Night and the Get Caught Reading program where police found children reading around town and gave the certificates for ice cream.
The IACP is the world’s largest professional association for police leaders with more than 30,000 members in 150 countries.
From the IACP award site: “Since 2013, the Mansfield Police Department has undergone a reorientation of its operations model. Prior to the change, the organization’s structure was a predominantly traditional, reactionary model that primarily measured success solely by metrics such as arrests, police reports, and citations written. The heart of the reoriented policing model aimed to shift from a reactive model to one that emphasized a total immersion program of police operations into the community. This immersion program emphasized engagement and a focus on prevention by identifying core constituencies in the community. Once the core constituencies were identified, the police department and school department worked together to create a community calendar of activities with the goal of strategically aligning organizational goals with those of the communities by emphasizing regular face-to- face contact and a prevention and problem solving focus to community quality of life issues. In doing so it represents a reorientation of police operations, emphasizing problem solving, situational crime prevention, and community engagement over outdated traditional reactionary metrics. Additionally, the official social media of the department expanded from having a “just the facts” press release approach to using the platforms as a source of engagement and interaction by utilizing humor and humanizing approaches.”
Sellon serves on the IACP’s human and civil rights and constitutional policy committees.
Special thanks for the shout out on Twitter from Bridgton, ME PD.
Also covered by Wicked Local: International chiefs honor Mansfield police’s leadership
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