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Police chief asks council to approve Lexipol subscription to update policies, training and pursue accreditation
Summary
The police chief asked the council for direction to contract with Lexipol for policy management, daily scenario-based training and assistance toward Iowa law enforcement accreditation (iLEAP); staff provided a first-year, discounted cost estimate of about $32,251 and said implementation would take about 9–12 months, with annual subscriptions to be budgeted thereafter.
The Indianola Police Department asked the council for direction on subscribing to Lexipol, a policy-management and training service that offers continually updated, legally vetted policy language, daily training bulletins and accreditation support.
The chief said Lexipol’s Iowa-specific policies are written and reviewed by attorneys and that a subscription would provide version control, employee acknowledgement tracking, scenario-based digital training and legal research support tied to case law. He tied the request to recommendations in a recent CPSM staffing study and to the department’s goal of pursuing Iowa Law Enforcement Accreditation (iLEAP).
Chief (by role) laid out budget figures: a standard annual subscription listed at about $18,616 with a negotiated discounted annual rate of about $15,823 if the city signs by Aug. 1; an implementation fee quoted at about $20,535 with a discounted offer of about $16,428; together, staff estimated a discounted first-year cost near $32,251, with three-year and five-year projections shared as planning figures. The chief said some initial implementation costs could be covered with projected salary savings and that annual subscription costs would be included in future budgets if the council approves.
He described implementation as a 9–12 month project with weekly implementation meetings and an internal point of contact (Lieutenant Sparks). The department would review and accept policy changes published by Lexipol, run reports on updates and training completion, and evaluate continued subscription value annually.
Council members asked about monitoring benefits and the chief said the department would track training uptake and policy-change volumes and could recommend cancellation if the service was not delivering expected value. Several council members expressed support for the approach and for the accreditation goal; no formal vote was taken at the study session.
