Darien Police Dept. awarded state accreditation

Written by The Darien Times
Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Police Officer Standards and Training Council awarded the Darien Police Department Tier I and Tier II State Accreditation on March 5.

Accreditation demonstrates a police agency’s commitment to law enforcement excellence. By earning this award, the Darien Police Department has become the 26th Connecticut law enforcement agency to receive state accreditation.

Accreditation is awarded for a three-year period, and subsequent assessments are conducted every three years in order to maintain accredited status.

The accreditation process consists of maintaining compliance with professionally recognized law enforcement standards. There are 207 such standards in the Tier I and Tier II levels accreditation that the department has demonstrated compliance with.

The department’s accreditation manager, Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, is responsible for overseeing the accreditation process, and ensuring that the department maintains compliance with all the standards.

Accreditation has several benefits, including: A reduction in liability insurance costs to the town, along with a stronger defense against lawsuits; facilitation of town government awareness of how the police department is managed; demonstrates the department’s professionalism, excellence and overall competence; requires the development of policies and procedures designed to guide and assist officers in daily operations; assists in the development of guidelines that maximize the level of services provided to the community; and through reassessment, ensures that the department is audited every three years.

The next goal of the Darien Police Department is to seek accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, which grants accreditation at the national level.