The Hanson Police Department has enrolled in the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program. The purpose of enrollment is to commit to compliance with the program standards so that the department will reflect the best professional practices in police management, administration, operations, and support services. Police departments like hospitals and institutions of learning, can be granted approved status accreditation by an official review board after meeting specific requirements.
Accreditation begins with a thorough examination of the agency, by the agency, to determine the department’s measure of compliance with each of the standards. Accreditation is not a performance evaluation of the individual members of our department. Among other things, accreditation is a coveted award that symbolizes professionalism, excellence, and competence. This requires written directives and training to inform members about policies and practices, facilities and equipment to ensure member safety, and processes to safeguard members’ rights. The community and police department can take pride in their department, knowing it represents the very best in law enforcement.
Our Accreditation Manager – Sergeant Peter F. Calogero and the administrative staff have been examining the current operations of the department to determine the extent to which we comply with each of the accreditation standards. We will then formulate and implement various directives that will accomplish compliance. Although some of the directives will address new procedures, many will involve the mirror update of existing written directives or the commitment of existing unwritten departmental procedures to a written format The Certification Process consists of six phases: Information, Application, Self-Assessment, Pre- Assessment, On-site Assessment, and Commission Review. Our department is currently in the Self- Assessment stage.
Both Deputy Chief Michael Casey and Sergeant Calogero have received specialized training that will help the Hanson Police Department achieve agency compliance. They have obtained the standards and have already started analyzing each one to determine agency compliance. There are over one hundred and seventy-nine standards that need to be implemented department-wide before an on-site assessment is conducted.