Canton police chief reports on department improvements

By Mike Berger

Canton Police Chief Michael Daniels recently shared via the department’s social media channels a “seven-month progress report” detailing the changes and improvements he has implemented since assuming the post in February 2026.

“Over the past seven months, much of the work taking place inside the Canton Police Department has happened behind the scenes, and some of that work has involved visible changes,” Daniels said. “Much of it has involved evaluating systems, strengthening accountability, rebuilding internal processes, and creating a stronger foundation for the future.”

The report, which includes the tagline “Learning from the Past; Building the Future,” outlines improvements across six key areas, including accountability and public trust; staffing and leadership; technology and systems; organizational reset and policy modernization; financial and strategic planning; and community and public safety.

In a post accompanying the report, Daniels highlighted some of the notable changes he has made, including:

* Rebuilding parts of the department’s command structure and clarifying leadership responsibilities.

* Strengthening supervisory expectations, internal accountability, notification procedures, and complaint review.

* Launching a department-wide self-assessment focused on reviewing and modernizing policies, procedures, training, and organizational practices.

* Significantly tightening oversight of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), commonly referred to as Flock cameras, including restricting access, removing federal data-sharing access, and implementing additional auditing and administrative review.

* Continuing to rebuild staffing while managing promotions, retirements, resignations, recruitment, academy personnel, and day-to-day operational needs.

* Performing extensive reviews of overtime, staffing models, scheduling, fleet needs, capital planning, and long-term departmental finances.

* Modernizing critical department systems, including CAD/RMS, policy management, technology access controls, CJIS redundancy, and employee onboarding processes.

* Expanding targeted traffic enforcement based on data, resident concerns, crash history, and officer observations.

* Increasing communication with the public on issues involving traffic, technology, public safety, department operations, and community concerns.

* Launching new community engagement initiatives, including quarterly “Breakfast with the Chief” events in partnership with Diane Tynan and the Department of Elder & Human Services.

Daniels himself boasts an impressive track record of modernization efforts at several Massachusetts police departments, most recently during his time as chief in the town of Oxford, where he worked to create an agency centered on accountability, transparency, and community trust.

Many of the changes implemented to date are also reflective of the recommendations of a department-wide audit that was commissioned by Canton town leaders at the urging of residents and formally completed in the spring of 2025. While not finding any evidence of “conspiracies, coverups or corruption” by CPD officers as alleged by some residents in the wake of the John O’Keefe murder investigation, the auditors did identify several areas in need of improvement and included a list of “actionable recommendations” in its 200-page report.

While Daniels believes that significant progress has already been made, he stressed that not every improvement is immediately visible from outside the police department. “Organizational change often begins with evaluating how decisions are made, how employees are supervised, how technology is governed, how money is spent, and whether existing policies and systems meet the standards our community should expect,” he said.

The chief also acknowledged that there is still much work to be done. “Our goal is not simply to make changes for the sake of change,” he said. “It is to build systems that are sustainable, accountable, professional, and worthy of the public’s trust. We will continue evaluating where we are, communicating where we are going, and holding ourselves accountable for the progress we make.”

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