Police Transparency

The Wentzville Police Department became an accredited police agency through the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation on May 22, 2019. The Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation is the first and only Missouri-based Law Enforcement Agency Certification Program.

To become an accredited agency, the Wentzville Police Department had to meet strict standards and guidelines required by the Missouri Police Chiefs Charitable Foundation. Some of these standards included procedures on Use of Force, Personnel, Conduct (on and off duty), Recruitment and Selection, Traffic Law Enforcement, Patrol, Criminal Investigation, Crime Prevention, Juvenile Operations, Training, Internal Affairs, Collection and Preservation of Evidence, Prisoner Transport and Booking Procedure, Custodial Care Standards, Communications, as well as some Missouri Specific Standards to include handling of Domestic Violence Incidents. 

To meet these standards and guidelines, the Wentzville Police Department conducted and completed a thorough policy review. Proofs such as inspections, reports, memos, and photos were collected to prove compliance with all of the standards required by the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation. 

On April 11, 2019, assessors with the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation came to the Wentzville Police Department to verify compliance. The assessors were shown equipment and vehicles used by the Wentzville Police Department, as well as toured the Wentzville Police Department Booking/Jail area, Evidence Storage, Records Department, and Dispatch Center. The assessors reviewed 483 mandated standards required by the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation. The Wentzville Police Department received a 99.79% compliance on the required standards. The .21% of the standards which required file maintenance or proofs were corrected to show compliance and meet the required standards. 

To continue to be an accredited agency, the Wentzville Police Department continues to review and update policies and provide yearly proofs the mandated standards are being met. This includes meeting any new standards the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation changes or adds to the already 483 mandated standards. Every three years, the Missouri Police Chief’s Charitable Foundation will complete an on-site assessment reviewing the Wentzville Police Department’s policies and proofs required to keep and maintain such a high standard of mandated items to verify compliance.

Annual Training

All officers are required to be certified through the Missouri Department of Public Safety and comply with the Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements. Once hired, an officer is required to obtain a minimum of 24 hours of continuing law enforcement education annually in a variety of subjects in order to keep their police officer license valid.

The Wentzville Police Department provides a high number of training opportunities for officers to help keep up to date on the ever-changing dynamics of law enforcement.

All officers attend four blocks of Firearm instruction totaling 48 hours consisting of a combination of classroom and practical exercises. Officers attend two additional blocks of in-service training totaling 24 hours of instruction in areas such as De-Escalation-Racial Intelligence, DWI Refresher, CPR and First Aid, Defensive Tactics, Use of Force, and Defensive Driving. All officers are also required to complete an additional 16 hours of virtual online computer training addressing a variety of law enforcement topics.

Officers also attend additional training on an individual basis relative to their specialized positions such as K9, Detective or School Resource Officer.

Wentzville officers, on average, attend roughly 65 hours of instruction above and beyond the minimum required by the State of Missouri.

Training curriculums are certified by Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training (POST)

Body Worn Cameras

In 2012, prior to the events in Ferguson, Missouri, the Wentzville Police Department fully deployed Body Worn Cameras (BWCs). BWCs are small cameras worn by the officers and allow for the audio and video recordings of interactions between officers and the citizens they serve. In 2012, the Wentzville Police Department was one of the few Police Departments in the nation and the first in our state to fully adopt BWC’s. BWC’s are standard-issue for officers and supervisors who routinely come into contact with citizens to document interactions. Department policy requires officers to activate their BWC on all calls-for-service, as well as, any citizen contact that may be of evidentiary value. At the end of the officer’s shift, officers download their BWC, with the data being stored on a secure cloud server for future use. The cloud server maintains the chain of custody for all video recordings ensuring the integrity of events captured.

The Wentzville Department, on average, maintains more than 62,000 videos in the cloud.

Crisis Intervention

The Wentzville Police Department supports and participates in the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. CIT is a community partnership between law enforcement, mental health and addiction professionals, mental health consumers, and the affected family. The partnership is an innovative first-responder model of police-based crisis intervention training to help persons with mental disorders and/or addictions access medical treatment rather than place them in the criminal justice system due to illness-related behaviors. It also promotes officer safety and the safety of the individual in crisis.

The Wentzville Police Department Patrol and Support Service personnel are all trained in CIT, which consists of an initial five-day, 40-hour training program.  Additional training addresses members of the community who are under the age of 21 and/or are veterans of the armed forces.   

As a result of the program and related training, officers are better equipped with the necessary skills to identify an individual suffering from a mental health crisis, quickly de-escalate the situation, and provide resources bringing hope and recovery to those in need. 

This training curriculum is certified by Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training (POST)

De-Escalation Training

In 2016, the Wentzville Police Department sent two officers to receive special training and become instructors in de-escalation through Vistelar. The de-escalation curriculum was then implemented into our annual training in 2017. This annual training provides officers with tools to assist while taking action or communicating verbally or nonverbally. These tools can be used during a potential force encounter in an attempt to stabilize the situation and reduce the immediacy of the threat so that more time, options and resources can be called upon to resolve the situation without the use of force or with a reduction in the force necessary. De-escalation may include the use of such techniques as command presence, advisements, warnings, verbal persuasion and tactical repositioning. 

Since the implementation of the training, the utilization of non-escalation/de-escalation tools by officers during a potential force encounter has been successful. The curriculum itself continuously evolves as we examine our officers’ encounters. Since its formation, instructors have been added and obtained additional specialist certifications from the Force Science Institute to ensure the curriculum continues to provide our officers with the most realistic training experience. 

Training begins in the classroom setting where some of the content covered includes:

• Universal Greeting
• Emotional Equilibrium
• How to use distance, relative positioning and hand placement for officer safety
• Persuasion Sequence Components
• Ethical Intervention
• Crisis Intervention Team situational response

Training moves from the classroom and requires officers to practice the application of their skills through realistic role-play scenarios. Scenarios are continuously improved upon and are developed from internal/external police encounters. Scenarios place an emphasis on verbal and non-verbal communication, tactics and tools to achieve the intended outcome. Officers utilize their de-escalation tools throughout each scenario while using only the amount of force that reasonably appears necessary given the facts and circumstance perceived by the officer at that time to accomplish a legitimate law enforcement purpose. 

This training curriculum is certified by  Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training (POST)

Diversity and Implicit Bias

The Wentzville Police Department conducts yearly in-service training by officers who received specialist instructor certification through Racial Intelligence Training and Engagement (RITE). RITE helps the officer understand their Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Social Intelligence (SI) which helps the officer, the department and the community. The RITE model works by first improving the officer’s communication skills, so they can engage more effectively with others. Old cultural diversity training taught officers what they’re doing wrong, which has proven to be ineffective in improving officers doing police work. Current training emphasizes de-escalation techniques and implicit bias understanding while using emotional intelligence. This empowers the officer with better, more effective decision-making abilities.

A three-pronged approach of teaching diversity and implicit bias is used that consists of:

1. Improving Officer Communication Skills: Emotional Intelligence Tools for Resiliency and De-escalation; to use personally and professionally
2. Improving the Department: Social intelligence helps with Bias-free policing, Recruiting, Improve morale, and Accountability
3. Building Community Relations: Bias-free policing will Enhance public trust

Through the course of the curriculum, officers learn skills that include:

• Emotional Self-Awareness
• Developing the intrinsic drive to be better
• Implicit Bias and Racial Intelligence
• Ethics and Integrity
• Situational awareness
• Empathy communication
• Officer Wellness: mental and physical health
• Behavioral Self-Control

The curriculum reinforces Department and City policy and focuses on the progressive philosophy that when you improve the person, you improve the profession, the department and build community trust. 

This training curriculum is certified by Missouri Police Officer Standards and Training (POST)

Field Training Program

The Field Training Officer (FTO) Program is intended to provide a standardized program to facilitate the officer’s transition from the academic setting to actual performance of general law enforcement duties with the Wentzville Police Department. It prepares the new officer to perform in a patrol assignment and to ensure they possess all of the skills needed to operate in a safe, productive and professional manner.

New officers are partnered with an experienced officer who has been specifically trained in the art of supervising and evaluating entry-level and lateral officers who have previous law enforcement experience.

The FTO program is an 18-week program consisting of five phases

• Week 1 Consist of classroom instruction, policy review, and range qualifications
• Weeks 2-6 The trainee learns by observing the FTO and discussions
• Weeks 7-10 The trainee begins handling low stress calls with assistance 
• Weeks 11-14 The trainee is handling all calls and writing all reports
• Weeks 15-18 The trainee is observed by the FTO as if a solo officer

At the conclusion of each training day, the Field Training Officer completes a daily observation report and discusses the report with the new officer. Prior to completing each phase, the new officer must be recommended for advancement to the next phase by the Field Training Officer. All daily observations reports and advancement recommendations are reviewed by the FTO Coordinator, Professional Standard Office and Command Staff. 

Prior to being released from training to perform as a solo officer, the new officer must pass a test on Department policies and procedures. 

After successfully completing the field training program, all officers must successfully complete a required 12-month probationary period without exception.

Wentzville MO PD uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising on individual privacy. Wentzville MO PD utilizes retroactive search to solve crimes after they’ve occurred. Additionally, Wentzville MO PD utilizes real time alerting of hotlist vehicles to capture wanted criminals. In an effort to ensure proper usage and guardrails are in place, they have made the below policies and usage statistics available to the public.  To learn more about Flock technology, just click on this link: https://transparency.flocksafety.com/wentzville-mo-pd

In order to continue our efforts of showing transparency, we have made our policies available to the public for review.  Just click on this link: https://public.powerdms.com/wentzvillemo/tree

The Wentzville Police Department uses the PowerEngage program to gauge and enhance our level of service with the community. PowerEngage allows residents to directly share their experiences, providing a simple way to communicate with us and ensuring that community voices are valued and heard. This feedback helps us make informed decisions on where to allocate resources and allows us to measure engagement in real-time, without adding extra work for our staff or residents. Through PowerEngage, we turn positive feedback into valuable data that can be shared, creating a positive cycle of trust and transparency that supports our mission to serve Wentzville with integrity, courage, and commitment. View the PowerEngage survey results here.

The Wentzville Police Department is committed to selecting candidates for job openings based on merit, ability, competence and experience. The Professional Standards Division is responsible for administering all Police Department hiring processes with the assistance of the City’s Human Resources Department. The selection processes for Police Officer and other Department positions follow a standardized format and includes several steps of testing and evaluation.

Notifications, testing and evaluation in the hiring process is managed by, and the responsibility of, the Professional Standards Sergeant.

1. Applicants for Patrol Officer must meet qualifications of POST and the Department as required by department policy or state and federal law.
2. Applicants for Patrol Officer must possess a POST license for the Department’s classification of a peace officer, the ability to obtain a POST license within 30 days, or be enrolled in a recognized police academy.
3. Applicants for Patrol Officer must pass a physical agility test by successfully completing a timed obstacle course. The obstacle course consists of running and navigating obstacles such as jumping, ducking, ascending and descending stairs, climbing two, four-foot chain-link fences, and dragging a weighted dummy.
4. All applicants take a written entrance examination and must obtain a minimum score of 70% on each section and average at least 70% on all sections of the entrance exam combined. (Applicants for civilian positions such as Corrections Technician, Records Staff or Dispatchers are required to participate in written or computer testing related to those job functions).
5. Applicants who pass the physical agility and written testing are interviewed in front of a structured oral interview board which generally consists of four officers with various ranks within the Wentzville Police Department. The interviews are scored and the results are presented to the Chief of Police. 

The Chief of Police will determine how many candidates which met the above criteria will be given an interview by him or her. Following the interviews, the Chief of Police has discretion regarding who will move forward to the following steps: 

1. A background investigation is conducted on candidates which may include reviewing job history and performance, education, criminal history, financial stability and obligations, prior court actions and contacting provided references.
2. After completion of a comprehensive background investigation, a candidate may be given a conditional job offer, pending the completion of the remaining hiring requirements.
3. After a candidate is given a conditional job offer, they must participate in a polygraph examination with a certified department examiner. The purpose of this examination is to confirm the candidate has provided full and complete information throughout the hiring process and has not concealed or misrepresented disqualifying information.
4. Successful candidates participate in psychological testing, which is contracted through a psychological service.
5. At the completion of psychological testing, the candidate is sent for a drug screen, physical exam and a work analysis exam, which tests the candidate’s ability to perform common physical tasks and exertion necessary for the job they have applied for.

Contingent upon the successful completion of the above requirements, the candidate is hired. The entire hiring process is generally conducted and completed in a period of 3-4 months. 

The Wentzville Police Department takes each and every use of force report seriously and conducts a complete review for each use of force report filed.

All use of force incidents involving Wentzville PD employees are cause for an investigation to be conducted. For each use of force application, the first line supervisor conducts an interview of the person (or people) force was applied to and establishes if there are any medical needs, what the circumstances of the application of force are, is there any allegations of misconduct or excessive force used or does the person that force was used on agree that the level of force was appropriate. Supervisors who are made aware of medical needs insure that everyone with injuries is examined and treated. The supervisor then verifies the basic facts through questioning the officers involved, body camera video review, and interviews with witnesses and suspects. A report documenting the investigation is prepared by the supervisor and forwarded up the chain of command.

Reports are forwarded from the first line supervisor to the appropriate Platoon Commander. The Platoon Commanders not only review the basic facts and body camera videos, but they are also tasked with providing an overview of the incident, ensuring that the Police Department is providing the best possible service to the community. Some additional areas reviewed include:

• What, if anything, could we have done differently?
• Is there a need for additional training?
• Was there a training failure?
• What did we learn from this?

Upon completion of the overview by the Platoon Commander, the report and related videos are then sent to the following Command Staff:

• Division Commander
• Assistant Chief of Police
• Chief of Police

At each Command Staff level, the officer’s actions are accepted or denied based on the facts presented. If the officer’s actions are not approved, at any Command Staff level a letter is then attached to the report detailing the concern and recommendation for action to be taken. Once the incident has cleared all levels of scrutiny, the videos of the incident are directed back to supervisors of the Field Operations Bureau to be used as roll call training.

These steps are taken each time an officer is required to use force to ensure the Wentzville Police Department is delivering constitutionally sound, superior law enforcement services with professionalism.