USE OF FORCE / RESPONSE TO RESISTANCE

De-escalation Training / Use of Force / Accountability

Our officers are committed to serving and protecting our community in a professional manner.   We are proud to say that our policies are in line with those that research has shown can reduce fatal encounters with police and save lives.  We have had these standards in place for several years.  We recently sent several officers to a de-escalation training course in Ft. Myers and we are instituting this type of education into an annual In-Service Training within the department.  We also require all of our officers to attend Crisis Intervention Training through NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness), as well as annual Autism Awareness Training. 

Though we have very few instances where “use of force” is required, a report is generated to the State monthly, as per state mandate.

Naples Police Department is voluntarily accredited with the Commission for Florida Accreditation and we abide by over two hundred standards.  We are assessed every three years and in 2020 we achieved re-accreditation with no compliance issues, which is excellent.

When hiring new officers, our Professional Standards Division is very thorough during the background investigations.  They contact each candidate’s previous employer to obtain a copy of the officers’ files, including internal affairs records and evaluations.  We do everything in our power to ensure we hire good officers that will promote our value statement: ethics above all else, service to others before self, quality in all that we do, partnership, empowerment, problem solving, and accountability.