What happened
NCISD’s police department is the 216th agency—out of about 3,000 statewide—to be accredited under the Texas Police Chiefs Association Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, per the release. The department was granted accreditation Feb. 1 and was presented with the award on April 16 at the Texas Police Chiefs Association’s annual conference in Galveston.
To earn the accreditation, departments must comply with 168 law enforcement standards. According to the Texas Police Chiefs Association website, the standards required to earn accreditation under the program include:
- Creating or updating policies within the agency on topics such as sexual harassment, employee complaints and license requirements
- Creating or updating policies for use of deadly force, vehicle pursuits, inventory of evidence and hostage scenarios
To become accredited, NCISD officers were required to self-review the department’s facilities, policies, procedures and operations—a process the department began two years ago, according to the release.
According to the Texas Police Chiefs Association’s website, the steps for earning accreditation include:
- Sending in proof of compliance to the association for third-party assessors to review
- Having staff interviewed by the assessors
- Allowing the assessors to inspect facilities and observe operations
- Being considered by a committee that reviews the assessors’ report
The Texas Police Chiefs Association’s Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was founded in 2006, according to the association’s website. The program is voluntary and, alternatively, agencies can opt to get accredited by a national program.
