CENTERVILLE—Becoming accredited as a police agency takes hundreds of hours of work. The Centerville Police Department completed the rigorous process and recently became one of only a dozen law enforcement agencies in the state to receive the designation.

“The Utah Chiefs of Police Association has an accreditation program for agencies that adhere to quality standards,” said Centerville Police Chief Paul Child. “Becoming accredited demonstrates you are operating under best practices and policies.”

There are 173 standards that have to be met, he said. “Agencies have to show proof of compliance through records and history. There’s a wide variety of aspects such as the evidence room, budget and how officers respond to a call and if we are conducting law enforcement in a responsible way.”

It costs $1,000 to apply, said Child. “That’s covered by insurance because they can see the value to the agency.”

 It’s a three year process and extremely intensive, he said. “We assigned an officer to work on it. It takes hundreds and hundreds of hours to go through everything. They may find a policy that needs to be added or tweaked or create policy and get that approved. It’s quite a big deal.”

Once they compile all the proofs of compliance an assessor is assigned to work with the agency to give guidance on documentation, Child said. “They might say, ‘see chapter 53 subsection or policy’ that addresses the standards, etc.”

 When an agency reaches the point that they’ve met all the qualifications, a specialist is assigned to the assessor, he said. “They come down and do a walk through of your evidence room and the overall condition of the department. If it looks good and it’s up to snuff, they sign off on it and give a report to the Utah Chiefs of Police board of directors.”

They vote on it, said Child. “If they approve it you become accredited. We’re pretty proud of it. It sends a message that our processes, policies and practices reflect our department.” λ