IACP Policy Center Topic Directory
For more than 30 years, the IACP Policy Center has been identifying leading practices and providing sound guidance to the policing profession to assist in developing policies for individual departments.
Model Policies
All Policy Center Resources
Sexual Harassment & Misconduct
Police executives have a vested interest in prohibiting sexual harassment at work, both from a moral and an economic viewpoint. Further, members of law enforcement...
Small Unmanned Aircraft System
Technological advances have allowed public safety agencies to consider the acquisition of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to support their operations. The rapid integration of...
Social Media*
Social media has many potential uses for law enforcement agencies. The characteristics of collaboration and interactive communication that are at the core of social media...
Special Event Preparedness
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT)
This is a stand-alone document, unaccompanied by a model policy, designed to explore the primary issues surrounding special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams. Following extensive...
Specialized Units
It can be beneficial for police leaders to have access to specialized units that are adequately trained, staffed, and equipped to address situations their agencies...
Stalking
Responding to and investigating reports of stalking should involve gathering information that permits the victim’s circumstances to be considered in context with the behavior of the suspect...
Standards of Conduct
Law enforcement officers must accept and abide by a high ethical and moral standard that is consistent with the rule of law they are sworn...
Strikes and Labor Disputes
The parties involved in a labor dispute have rights as well as responsibilities. Strikers may assemble and demonstrate peacefully to bring attention to their cause...
Strip and Body Cavity Searches
Agencies should ensure that all officers are aware of the requirements, limitations, and procedures for strip and body cavity searches. Due to the potentially invasive...
Suicide Bombings
Police officers must be prepared for the potential of suicide bomber attacks. No policy can prescribe the precise actions that an officer must take in...
Surveillance
Surveillance operations are essential for criminal investigations and information collection required to develop intelligence. However, covert and clandestine methods may be neither appropriate nor necessary...
Suspicious Mail
The threat of attacks on individuals involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), especially chemical or biological agents, continues to be of significant concern. Law enforcement...
Technology
Technology advances rapidly in today's environment, and these technological advancements can help make policing more effective and more efficient. At the same time, new technology can also...
Temporary Light Duty
Temporary light-duty assignments, when available, should be for officers and other eligible personnel in an agency who, because of injury, illness or disability, are temporarily...
The Patrol Rifle: Considerations
This is stand alone document, unaccompanied by a model policy, explores the primary issues surrounding the issuance of rifles to line patrol officers. Following extensive research, the...
Traffic Incident Management
Effective management of traffic incidents is crucial to the safe and efficient use of roadways. Coordinated multiagency response to detect, respond to, and remove traffic incidents...
Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Individuals
Transportation of Prisoners
All prisoners should be treated in a humane manner and with due regard for their physical safety and protection consistent with sound principles of prisoner...
Use of Emergency Vehicular Warning Devices
All members of a law enforcement agency should adhere to statutory restrictions on the use of emergency warning devices and ensure that such devices are employed...
Every effort has been made by the IACP Policy Center staff and advisory board to ensure that these documents incorporate the most current information and contemporary judgment on these issues. However, police administrators should be cautioned that no model policy can meet all the needs of any given police agency. In addition, the formulation of specific agency policies must take into account local political and community perspectives and customs, prerogatives, and demands; often divergent policing strategies and philosophies; and the impact of varied agency resource capabilities, among other factors. Readers outside of the United States should note that, while these documents promote procedures reflective of a democratic society, their legal basis follows United States Supreme Court rulings and other federal laws and statutes. Police administrators should be cautioned that each police agency operates in a unique environment of court rulings, state laws, local ordinances, regulations, judicial and administrative decisions, and collective bargaining agreements that must be considered and should, therefore, consult their agency's legal advisor before implementing any policy.
The IACP Policy Center documents are periodically updated, and the most current versions are published to this website. To minimize confusion and to help ensure reference to the most recent documents available, the IACP Policy Center does not distribute prior versions of any documents that have since been updated.
