West Haven Police Department working toward state accreditation

01/06/2007

W. Haven Police Department working toward state accreditation

Marissa Yaremich , Register Staff

WEST HAVEN — A team of state assessors would like to make the Police Department the 17th state-accredited law enforcement agency in Connecticut and would like input from the public in formulating its final decision. On Friday, the team visited the department to evaluate its policies and procedures to determine if the city meets state accreditation standards. The public is invited to be involved in the process.

"Any type of comments will be accepted. Some may not be germane to what we’re looking at, but we still look at these comments" to help the team review whether standards and policies are in place and adhered to within the department, said Ted LeMay, state accreditation program manager for the Police Officer Standards and Training Council.

Comments can be sent to POST Council staff at 285 Preston Ave., Meriden 06450, phoned in to 238-6026 or faxed to 238-6643.

LeMay said West Haven’s accreditation, if successful, will join 16 other such agencies, including the Branford Police Department, which is also nationally accredited. Other Greater New Haven communities going through the process include Shelton, Milford, Clinton and Wallingford, he added.

Deputy Police Chief Colleen Smullen, who is supervising the accreditation process, said the department has been working toward the achievement for several years because accreditation gives it the benefit of conforming to statewide police policies and procedures to better serve the public.

"It provides consistency and added reinforcement for liability reasons," said Smullen, who also serves as a POST Council assessor, though she is not assessing her own department.

West Haven specifically is looking to receive certification for the first of three tiers of standards. This means the department must document, record and follow about 125 standards. The three tiers address up to 350 standards in three categories: liability certification, professional certification and general management.

Once the on-site evaluation is finished, Smullen said the team will draft its recommendation and submit it to the POST Council. It could take several weeks before West Haven receives a final answer.

Marissa Yaremich can be reached at myaremich@nhregister.com or 789-5742.