By John Nickerson
Staff Writer
April 14, 2006
NORWALK -- An independent team from a Virginia-based firm reviewing police policies and procedures will meet with residents next month to discuss Norwalk law enforcement issues.
"We want to know how (people in Norwalk) are satisfied with police services that are provided there," said Steve Mitchell, program manager for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.
The three-member team will begin its on-site assessment of the police department May 1 and complete its evaluation of 436 areas by May 3, Mitchell said.
Every three years since 1995, the Norwalk department has voluntarily renewed its law enforcement accreditation, which sets out standards and benchmarks in management, operations and personnel structure followed by 700 accredited departments around the country.
In Connecticut, 16 police departments, including Norwalk, are accredited, Mitchell said.
Residents and police department employees are invited to offer comments about police services at a public information session at 7 p.m. May 1 at police headquarters on Monroe Street, Lt. Michael Paul said in a statement.
If anyone cannot attend the meeting and would like to comment, they may call 854-3055 from 1 to 4 p.m. May 1 to talk to an accreditation team member.
The calls, involving police issues that have occurred over the past three years, will be taken on a secure phone line and will not be screened by police department employees, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the standards set by the commission, which has accredited police departments in Omaha, Neb., Phoenix and Honolulu, are not easy to achieve. Once a department is accredited, it has to go through the process every three years.
"We don't bring a rubber stamp," Mitchell said. "We are not going there for a holiday. The integrity of the process is very important to us."
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