The Georgetown Police Department was presented with the Texas Police Chiefs Association’s Recognized Law Enforcement Agency award Aug. 13.

The department earned the award from the TPCA’s Law Enforcement Recognition Program in May after a more than two-year application process that included a critical review of the agency’s policies, procedures, facilities and operations, according to a news release. Georgetown is  the 154th agency out of more than 2,700 agencies in the state to receive the recognition, the release said.

“Achieving this status places Georgetown among the state’s top law enforcement agencies,” Chief Wayne Nero said in the release. “This process provided for an independent review of the department’s operations and should assure the residents of Georgetown that its police department is conforming to current state of the art standards and practices in law enforcement.”

The TPCA’s recognition program evaluates a police department’s compliance with nearly 170 best practices, including law-enforcement operations including use of force, protection of citizen rights, vehicle pursuits, property and evidence management, and patrol and investigative operations, the release said.

The process to apply for this recognition included a self-review of the department followed up by an outside audit and review, and a final on-site review conducted by police chiefs from other areas of the state, the release said. The results of the review were then sent to the TPCA recognition committee for a final analysis, it said.

"[Accreditation has] been a long journey and something we've aspired to do for a long time," Nero said.