Ithaca — Department representatives briefed the Ithaca Community Police Board on a package of policy and training updates, staffing changes and plans to make some materials available online.

The board heard that the department is working with a policy vendor and national organizations to adapt templates to New York State law, is expanding field training beyond the state minimum and is formalizing review processes for major policies such as officer-involved-shooting protocols.

The Operations Sergeant (unnamed) said the department requires substantially more on-the-job training than the state minimum. “So we give 600 hours of training to our newly graduated police academy officers before we give a final evaluation that says, yes. You're ready to go out and and conduct solo patrol,” the Operations Sergeant said. That figure was presented as the department’s local standard compared with the state’s stated 160-hour minimum for field training.

Department staff described the policy workflow: templates from a national vendor are adapted to the city, reviewed by in-house attorneys and subject-matter experts, then distributed electronically to officers who must acknowledge them. The department also plans a daily training-bulletin program that highlights policy excerpts and poses short discussion questions for officers.

Unidentified Speaker 4, a department representative, described the intent behind the updates: “When you're applying this policy are doing so in a way that is enhancing community safety,” they said, emphasizing that policies are intended as guidance for officers’ judgment.

The board asked how major policy reviews are completed. The department said reviews, especially for officer-involved-shooting policies, include instructors, attorneys and psychologists and draw on national best practices through organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police and vendor resources.

Officials also told the board that the department will publish updated policy materials on the city’s site and that an annual report summarizing training and external courses will be made available. The department reported a range of recent hiring activity and an upcoming promotion ceremony scheduled for Dec. 10 to swear in Deputy Chief Bellamy and two officers.

Board members and staff discussed how the board can better understand what “reasonable” looks like in practice and requested more examples and opportunities to observe reality-based training. The department said it invites elected officials and board members to watch training scenarios when appropriate and that debriefs after training sessions are used to shape future curricula.

The public portion concluded with the board moving into executive session for confidential items.

What’s next: the department said it will circulate the annual report and post policy updates online; the board scheduled a brief executive session to follow the public meeting.