Middletown commission approves seven police policy updates, accepts two internal investigations and moves to executive session for interviews

At its meeting the Middletown Police Commission voted to accept two internal investigations and approved seven policy updates presented by the police chief, then voted to move into an executive session for officer interviews.

The chief described two internal investigations. He said a June 28 motor-vehicle crash involving an officer was found to be a policy violation; the chief said the officer was disciplined with "loss of time and training" and completed required retraining. A second crash involving a deer did not find violations of policy. The mayor solicited a motion to accept the investigations as written; Commissioner Rodriguez moved, Commissioner Mills seconded, and the commission voted 'Aye' to accept the investigations.

The commission also reviewed and approved seven policy updates the chief had forwarded in advance: Policy 307 (vehicle pursuits), Policy 355 (generative artificial intelligence use — the department's first AI policy), Policy 401 (bias-based policing), Policy 433 (body-worn cameras), Policy 806 (animal control), Policy 1000 (recruitment and selection) and Policy 1029 (speech, expression and social networking). With no discussion, a motion to accept the policies as written was made and commissioners voted 'Aye' to approve them. The transcript does not record a named mover or seconder for the policies motion; commissioners Mills and Sullivan were mentioned during the vote call.

Finally, the mayor moved and Commissioner Rodriguez seconded a motion to enter executive session at 04:56 p.m. for personnel matters and interviews of potential police officer candidates; the commission voted to go into executive session.

The actions were procedural approvals and did not change staffing counts immediately in public session; any disciplinary or personnel details beyond what the chief described were handled in the department's internal process.