Mission Statement and Statement of Values

Mission Statement

While striving toward professional excellence, we are dedicated to work in partnership with our community to prevent and suppress crime, to reduce the fear of crime, and to enhance the quality of life through respect and understanding for all.

Statement of Values

1. Preserve and Advance Democratic Values - We shall uphold this country's democratic values as embodied in the Constitution and dedicate ourselves to the preservation of life, individual freedoms and justice for everyone.

2. Improve the Quality of Community Life - We must understand the importance of community values and expectations, be responsive to the concerns of all citizens, and encourage our officers to expand their role in helping the community to develop a better place to live.

3. Exercise Compassion - The role of the police is to resolve conflict through impartial enforcement of law, not through imposition of judgement or punishment. All persons shall be treated equitably and with compassion.

4. Professionalism - We must recognize that our success is dependent on the trust and confidence of the community which we serve, therefore we shall always engage in behavior which is beyond reproach and reflects the integrity of police professionals.

5. Pride - We pride ourselves on being capable and caring people who provide a valued service to the community of Northampton and we shall promote pride in our community, Department and profession.

6. Teamwork - Law enforcement, public safety, and quality of life issues are of community-wide concern; thus, we must actively seek community involvement in all aspects of policing. We shall strive to cultivate effective working relationships with other governmental public and private service agencies in pursuit of mutual goals.

7. Commitment - We must have a vision for the future of our community and our agency, and make a firm commitment to foster goals which will enable us to attain that end.

8. Excellence - We shall endeavor to meet or exceed state and nationally recognized law enforcement standards in every duty we undertake. We pledge to establish and maintain high performance standards to ensure public confidence and trust.

9. Quality Service - We shall strive to realize the aforementioned values in order to provide the community of Northampton with the highest quality of police services possible and accomplish our department mission.