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Guilford Police Department Goes for Re-accreditation

It is the police version of a comprehensive final exam. This month the Guilford Police Department is going for an accreditation, a recognition of excellence for complying with a system of uniform standard or best practices for law enforcement agencies, in an effort to demonstrate the work and progress of the department.

The department was first accredited in 2005 and has been re-accredited every three years since. This year marks the fifth re-accreditation for the department.

The process of accreditation takes several weeks with officials from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) already poring over police records. Agencies are required to comply with standards in the areas of policy and procedures, administration, operations, and support services. CALEA assessors were on site last week for review of the department and Chief Jeff Hutchinson said it is a very comprehensive assessment.

“In between your inspections there is a set of 482 standards—best practice standards that you need to comply with and in order to prove compliance you have to maintain records of compliance,” he said. “Over the three-year period, we have a system in place here that basically tracks and ensures that we are staying up to date.”

With so many standards to keep up with, Hutchinson said the re-accreditation process is a team effort.

“Not one person is responsible—it is the entire agency, because what they are inspecting covers everything from the way we hire to the way we purchase our cars to the way we train to the way we maintain the building,” he said. “It is the entire operation; it is a culture thing.”

Accreditation Manager Sergeant Christopher Massey, with the assistance of Officer Joanne Shove, helped prepare the department for the re-accreditation process. Hutchinson said the department had a good exit interview with CALEA, but there was some discussion of the changes the department has gone through over the past few years.

“The fact that we had such challenges—in the last two years just before I took over, we have had two chiefs and we are coming on our third deputy chief,” he said. “All of those people who leave, leave with a whole bunch of institutional knowledge and it is hundreds of years [of experience] that have walked out the door in the last couple of years.”

The department just hired a new deputy chief, Warren ‘Butch’ Hyatt, Jr., who currently serves as the director of law enforcement services for the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Hyatt starts work on April 3. Despite the turnover challenges, Hutchinson said the review went well.

“In spite of that we got a pretty good review and our understanding is they are going to recommend us for re-accreditation, but we won’t know for sure until July 29,” he said.

This summer the department goes before the CALEA commission for review of the on-site assessment before re-accreditation is formally granted. The review included a public hearing for residents to share their views on the department, while CALEA officers were on-site. While turnout for the hearing was very low, the two people who attended, including Board of Police Commissioners Chair Mike Mikolay, spoke highly of the department.

“I have no complaints and I am very proud of the police department that we have here,” Mikolay said. Every single member of the team is just a pleasure to work with and I know everyone is putting in their best effort day in and day out to make sure the citizens of Guilford get the public safety that they deserve.”