Strategic Plan Development

The effort to develop the Salem Police Department's first public strategic plan began under the leadership of Chief of Police Trevor Womack. The document, a three-year framework, represents the department's commitment to improve the way we serve the community. The objectives and initiatives captured in each strategic plan provide focus for the department, ensuring the best use of our limited resources toward measurable progress.

The development of a department plan includes an internal and external planning process, combining employee and community input. The department's first plan also incorporated recommendations from the 2020 Community Engagement Assessment. The original strategic plan solidified a new policing philosophy in Salem, improving safety and quality of life, while enhancing trust in the department.

Read about some of the highlights from the 2022-2024 strategic plan.

The new plan for the years 2025-2027 represents a deliberate building upon the past work. It reflects the lessons learned over the previous three years, and moves the department forward in continuity and progress. 

As Chief Womack shared, "By aligning our daily efforts with long-term goals, we will build on that progress made while adapting to the evolving needs of our community."

Mission, vision and values

Every strategic plan weaves in a mission to help define a purpose, a vision for what will be achieved, and the values, or principles, on which the organization's work is based. To update the department's mission, vision, and values, employee discussions and surveys were conducted. Community input was also collected through National Night Out block parties. Taking all the feedback into consideration, the following statements and principles were developed:

Mission – Provide superior service to keep Salem safe while enhancing trust.

Vision – To be a model for 21st-century policing using effective, innovative, community-informed approaches toward improved safety.

Values – Collaboration • Honor • Integrity • Compassion

Overarching goals

With the newly proposed mission, vision, and values set, the next step included the development of the strategic plan's overarching goals, or a framework for the primary objectives to accomplish.

Three main themes surfaced:

Safety - Keeping the community and employees safe.

Trust - The public's belief that those who are charged with enforcing the law are capable, qualified, effective, and trustworthy.

Excellence - Reflects the quality the department strives to achieve through its continual efforts to be professional, forward-thinking, and modern.