Mayor Says Review Almost Complete of New Bedford Police Department

The New Bedford Police Department has been undergoing a review by an outside firm, and Mayor Jon Mitchell says that examination is just about complete.

In his weekly appearance on WBSM, Mayor Mitchell says the review by Public Safety Strategies Group is getting closer to being finished, probably in the next month or so. The mayor stressed the review is being conducted in order to make what he feels is a strong police department and make it even better.

"We have a police department that's very well run, very professionally done," he said. "The role of the review is to take it from a very good police department to a great police department."

Mitchell said there will be recommendations that will emerge from the review, noting that Public Safety Strategies Group has done these kinds of reviews all over the country.

"What's different about the New Bedford Police Department, it's a department where moral is, by and large, very good," he said. "There aren't any scandals, and there's a pretty strong dedication to the mission. That's the way I've always perceived it."

"We'll use this opportunity to take what's good about it and make it better, and work on the things that aren't going so well," he said.