Brunswick police recognized for policy management and training

BRUNSWICK — The Brunswick Division of Police recently received the 2025 Lexipol Connect Elite Status due to the department's level of policy management and training. Police Chief Robert Safran said the division of police has been using Lexipol's policy management system for several years now. "To obtain Lexipol Elite Status, there are key metrics that Lexipol looks at," he said. "That is updating the policy manual, the speed at which those updates are distributed and then user acknowledgements by the officers." The police department's policy manual is updated on legislative changes that could be statewide, Safran said. It could also be updated based on changes to case law. "If there is a court ruling that impacts policy, we are able to distribute that quickly and make it effective when the case law is released," he said. "One good example that was changed by the Legislature in the state of Ohio was making adult-use marijuana legal, so we immediately had to update the policy concerning how marijuana laws are enforced." Safran said Lexipol also has a required training component delivered through daily training bulletins. "Basically, each month, officers are presented with 30 daily training bulletins where they're given a scenario-based incident, and they have to answer the question correctly," he said. "Usually it's an application of policy or some rule or regulation that it's rooted in." Police departments can be labeled as honored, distinguished and elite, which is the highest ranking by Lexipol. Safran said it is a new system, and under Lexipol's previous system, Brunswick police was considered a gold status agency for several years. "You always want to make sure your policy matches what you're asking of your officers," he said. "Especially the high-risk policies, the aggression response, the pursuit policies; those are continually reviewed and updated. For an agency to be transparent and have a good working relationship with the community, that's often rooted in having solid policy." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at 330-721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.