A professional standards system should be efficient, secure, and proactive—ensuring accountability while reducing administrative burdens. Use this checklist to assess and improve your processes.
Ensure that all on-duty incidents, from use of force to pursuits, are documented quickly and accurately using structured workflows.
Protect sensitive internal investigations and officer data with secure access controls and detailed audit trails that track every action.
Use dashboards that provide instant insight into case progress, report status, and key trends to eliminate bottlenecks and keep leadership informed.
Track key stress indicators over time to identify early signs of potential burnout, helping supervisors provide the right support at the right time.
Ensure all internal affairs cases align with department policies by integrating policy references into cases for easy reference during review workflows and adjudication.
Reduce manual effort by automating multi-step review processes, ensuring that reports and investigations move efficiently through the chain of command.
Use configurable templates and structured data entry to ensure that incident reports, internal affairs cases, and early warning tracking follow a standardized format.
Provide shared access to relevant information on personnel while maintaining strict permissions that ensure case integrity and confidentiality.
Generate reports that summarize operational metrics, policy adherence, and professional standards trends for accreditation and reviews.
Use data insights from reports and investigations to identify patterns, inform training initiatives, and enhance overall agency operations.
By following these 10 steps, your agency can strengthen accountability, reduce risk, and operate with greater clarity.
The Professional Standards Suite (PSS) from PowerDMS supports every step—connecting action reporting, internal affairs, and early intervention in one cohesive system.
See how agencies like yours are putting these practices into action and the tools helping them move from reactive to ready.