After three years of applications, inspections, and national conferences, the Evesham Township Police Department has received a national accreditation that less than 400 departments have in the entire country.
The police department received its National Law Enforcement Advanced Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Currently, there are 380 CALEA Certified Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies in the United States. With the addition of the Evesham Police Department to this list, only 10 of the CALEA Certified Municipal Law Enforcement Agencies are in the State of New Jersey.
A CALEA certification is widely considered as a benchmark for top law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. It’s an honor to be recognized but would also help to control premium costs for the township’s Joint Insurance Fund, township representatives have previously said.
“Participation in this process had a profound impact on the employees of the Evesham Police Department and I am very proud and encouraged by the manner in which they chose to embrace not only the methodologies that were developed to facilitate compliance with the CALEA standards, but also their willingness to embrace the overarching concepts of accreditation as a means to pursue professional excellence,” Chief Michael Barth said.
On Nov. 19, Evesham Township Police Department received full accreditation from CALEA. Officials from the Evesham Township Police Department appeared before a CALEA panel for the final phase of the three-year accreditation approval process. CALEA accreditation is considered to be a highly prized recognition of law enforcement excellence.
Prior to receiving approval, an assessment team from CALEA conducted a comprehensive review of the department’s policies and proofs submitted to demonstrate compliance with 446 CALEA standards required for advanced accreditation, according to Lt. Walt Miller. In addition, the team interviewed members of the departments various bureaus, spoke extensively with various department personnel, held a public hearing and provided a call-in phone line for citizen input. Police department facilities, equipment and service levels provided to the community were also evaluated.
Departments that have the prestigious certification open themselves up to more grant opportunities and revenue streams then departments without the certification, representatives previously reported.
“CALEA has provided our agency numerous benefits from potential control of liability costs to a stronger defense against litigation. But more importantly, it has provided the department an in-depth evaluation of our operations through an internationally recognized accreditation program. It has also allowed us to benchmark our organization against some of the best law enforcement agencies in the country,” Barth said. “This was truly a team effort that required the cooperation and participation of a number of departments within township government. I would like to thank the mayor and council for their continued support of the police department and more specifically for their support of professionalism in law enforcement.”
Upon completion of their assessment, a comprehensive debriefing was held with members of the police command staff, township officials, and team assessors. CALEA Assessment Team Leader Phillip Crowell described Evesham as, having agency files that are in excellent condition, and in all cases, that the proofs offered and agency practices were in compliance with and exceeded CALEA standards.
Township Manager Tom Czerniecki congratulated the police department on their accreditation as well.
“Congratulations to Chief Barth and the entire department on this achievement, as it was truly a departmental effort. Also, I would like to thank the chief and his team, including Lieutenant Christopher Chew and Officer Erin Gorman for all of their hard work behind the scenes getting our application and policies in order,” he said.
To learn more about CALEA, please visit www.calea.org.
