Recommendation 13.1

FPC should undertake a thorough review of the standard operating procedures and other policies of MPD.

Current:

Review of MPD policy is a part of the daily work of the FPC chairman and staff.  All new and amended Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Standard Operating Instructions (SOI) are reviewed before release.  In addition, the FPC rules have been recently updated to define exactly which SOP's go before the full board. 

Future:

With appropriate staff, the FPC could envision a proactive process by which each SOP is systematically reviewed on an annual basis; comparing each SOP to other comparable departments policies and published model policies.  This review could also include an overview of relevant MPD data and solicit public input. 

However, it must be recognized that a thorough and complete annual review of every single SOP is a major undertaking: there are currently 121 SOPs, not to mention an additional 25 Standard Operating Instructions in use by the MPD.   At a rate of 260 workdays per year, one researcher would have less than 2 days to produce each research report.  More research staff would certainly be necessary if a broader policy research effort were undertaken.  The exact number of additional staff would depend on the scope of the requested research, but a team of 6 researchers each producing a report every 2 weeks would be needed to thoroughly assess every policy every year.  Because of this, a staggered approach may be more reasonable.