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Newport News Police Department
III. WRITTEN DIRECTIVE CONTENT [12.2.1(d)]
The department’s written directives consist of the following elements. Each element is dependent on the
specific language and is not limited to headings or titles.
A. Policies
1. Statements establishing agency principles and expectations regarding a specific topic, compliance
requirements, and identifying personnel expected to follow and oversee stated requirements.
2. Policy language will specify whether the guidelines are applied based on employee discretion
(usually identified by the words “may” or “should”) or if adherence to is mandatory (usually
identified by the words “must”, “will” or “shall”). [12.2.1(f,g)]
B. Procedures
Statements outlining the specific steps, process or actions employees will conduct during agency
activities and to comply with department or city policies and statutory requirements. [12.2.1(h)]
C. Addendums & Links
1. When appropriate, information related to a directive that may require frequent updates, supplement
the directive, or is product specific may be included in an addendum (alternately referred to as an
attachment).
2. When appropriate, links to policies, statutes and forms will be used, allowing employees to easily
identify the references.
D. Document Number
Except for internal memoranda, each written directive is assigned a document number, preceded by the
directive type abbreviation, which serves as a unique identifier. The written directive Table of Contents
demonstrates how the unique identifier applies to grouped topics. [12.2.1(e)]
E. Publication & Revision Dates
Each directive will indicate the directive’s effective date, which is typically the publication date. Revised
versions will indicate the effective date of the version, being replaced by the new one. [12.2.1(e)]
IV. WRITTEN DIRECTIVE MANAGEMENT
A. The Planning & Research Office maintains the department’s written directives manual and is responsible
for managing the review, approval and publication process, coordinating with subject matter experts,
other agencies and the City Attorney’s office, identifying potential conflicts with other directives or
statutes and coordinating the review of existing directives to identify necessary updates. [12.2.1(i)]
B. All employees are responsible for logging into PowerPolicy regularly and completing all assignments in
their inbox by the assigned due date. When questions regarding policy, guidelines or procedures arise,
all employees are expected to search PowerPolicy for the relevant directive and adhere to the current
published policy, regardless of whether acknowledgment was required. [12.2.2(a)]
C. Creating & Revising Directives [12.2.1(i)]
1. When a member of the department identifies the need for a new directive or a necessary revision to
an existing directive, they will address this through their chain of command. If their commander
agrees, the Planning & Research Office will be notified and work with subject matter experts to create
or revise the directive.
2. Periodically, existing policy and procedures, standard operating procedures and training manuals
are distributed to subject matter experts and/or command staff for review via PowerPolicy, to ensure
information is current and correct. Necessary corrections will be either documented in the
PowerPolicy workflow or forwarded to the Planning & Research Office.
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