Wilmington Mayor And Chief Tracy Release Additional Portions Of The WPD Policy And Procedures Manual

From the City of Wilmington:

August 6, 2020

Additional portions of the Wilmington Police Department’s (WPD) Policy and Procedures Manual were released today by Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and Police Chief Robert J. Tracy. Since June 11, the City has released all or parts of seven of the eight chapters of the manual in line with a pledge to support racial justice reforms by being more transparent about City policing policies.

Today, more than 15 of the over 85 policies contained within Chapter 6 of the manual are being released. The latest information is available for viewing or download at this link to the Wilmington Police Department’s (WPD) webpage where all public portions of the manual can be found. One of the directives in Chapter 6—the police “use of force” policy—was the first part of the manual released in June. The remaining sections of Chapter 6 are being reviewed by the WPD and City Law Department and will be issued as soon as public safety-related redactions are completed.

In summary, since early June, the Purzycki Administration has publicly posted Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, portions of 6, as well as Chapters 7 and 8. The Chapter 6 directives issued today cover a range of topics such as police promotions, dress code, expenditures, military leave, collective bargaining and inventory and inspection.

Mayor Purzycki and Chief Tracy hope that the more residents know about policing policies, the more comfortable they will be with police operations and thus produce even more cooperation among City police officers and residents. The remaining sections of Chapter 6 and Chapter 4 will be released over the next few weeks.

This press release was produced by the City of Wilmington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.