Council approves police manual updates, council hears about new SWAT placeholder and alert name change

The Beaver Dam City Council approved updates to the city police manual and adopted several new policies, the council said. A staff representative described the packet as a mix of policy updates and new policies; council members voted to authorize the updates and adoption of the new entries. The motion passed on voice vote. Among the items discussed were updated guidance on off-duty or extra-duty assignments for officers, crowd-control guidelines describing roles and lines of notification for events or demonstrations, a placeholder SWAT policy in case the department later forms a SWAT team, and the state alert-name change from a “golden alert” to a “green alert.” Council members asked for clarification about the off-duty/extra-duty language and whether the new entries would be provided in full for review; staff said they could distribute copies to members who requested them. The council also discussed the challenge of sustaining volunteer-based specialized units, with staff saying recruitment and retention had previously limited a standing SWAT team. The council approved the motion to update and adopt the listed policies; no ordinance or statutory citations were offered during the discussion. Council members said they would be supplied written copies of the proposed manual updates for more detailed review if desired.