By JIM FAILE

The Hartsville Police Department is undergoing an on-site assessment this week as part of its effort to achieve accreditation by the Commission for Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) Inc.

A two-person team is in town conducting the assessment through Tuesday.

CALEA’s accreditation program requires law enforcement agencies to comply with state-of-the-art standards in four basic areas: policy and procedures, administration, operations and support services.

Hartsville Police Chief Tim Kemp said the assessors will meet and talk with department personnel and observe day-to-day department operations. The process will include riding with police officers on patrol, Kemp said. The team will also conduct exit interviews with department personnel at the conclusion of the process, he said.

Kemp said this is the first time the police department has sought CALEA accreditation.

Citizens and department employees had an opportunity to offer comments about the department during a public hearing held by the assessment team Sunday night at city hall, but no one showed up for the hearing except Kemp, officer Mark Blair, who is coordinating the city’s assessment effort, Interim City Manager Vern Myers and the assessment team.

The public still has an opportunity to express its views to the assessors Monday via telephone. Citizens can call the assessors at (843) 383-3025 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The phone-in period had to be rescheduled from Sunday afternoon because of technical problems, Kemp said.

Callers will be able to speak directly with one of the assessment team members.

CALEA was established in 1979 as a credentialing authority through the joint efforts of law enforcement’s major executive associations: the International Association of Police Chiefs, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Police Executive Research Forum.

The purpose of the accreditation program is to improve the delivery of public safety services to communities.

Douglas A. Goodman Jr., chief of the police department in Ashland, Va., is leading the assessment team visiting Hartsville. With him is Lt. Sue Madsen of the Union Township Police Department in Clermont County, Ohio.

The team will assess the department on 464 professional standards established by CALEA, Goodman said.

Accreditation is a rigorous but voluntary process, Goodman said. It allows departments to demonstrate adherence to and continued commitment to professional standards, he said.

Those standards cover such areas as “hot button” issues like pursuits, bias-based policing and evidence handling as well as day-to-day procedures, Goodman said.

“We are merely fact finders,” Goodman said. He said he and Madsen will compile their findings in a report which will be presented to the commission for consideration.

The commission will meet in November to review the findings and determine whether to grant accreditation to the department, he said.
Goodman said one of the most significant aspects of achieving accreditation by CALEA is that it will place the police department among the top 1.5 percent of law enforcement agencies internationally.

CALEA accredits law enforcement agencies not only nationally but in Canada, the Caribbean and South America, Goodman said.

In this area, the Florence and Sumter police departments are both CALEA accredited. Statewide, 31 public safety agencies are accredited, according to the S.C. Police Accreditation Coalition.

Accreditation lasts for three years, and departments are required to maintain compliance with the standards throughout the period, Goodman said. Accredited police departments are required to submit an annual report and to undergo a reaccreditation process at the end of that period if they wish to remain accredited.

Accreditation strengthens a department’s accountability to the public, Goodman said. “It shows their commitment to these 464 professional standards and to providing a higher level of police protection to the community,” he said.

Through CALEA accreditation, departments demonstrate a proven track record toward maintaining the standards, Goodman said.

“Accreditation is an opportunity to raise the standards of a department,” Madsen said. Adherence to those standards, she said, also helps limit the department’s liability in many areas.

Goodman and Madsen both said their departments are facing the same kind of budgetary constraints the Hartsville Police Department and other police departments across the country are dealing with right now. “I think we’re all in the same boat,” Madsen said.

They said CALEA takes that into consideration in making the accreditation process accessible to departments.

The police department has been working on achieving CALEA accreditation for some time, Kemp said.

As part of the process, the department did a self-assessment and also did a mock assessment leading up to the on-site assessment, Kemp said.

Goodman said the self assessment is one of the most challenging and demanding aspects of the accreditation process.

CALEA’s governing board is made up of law enforcement professionals as well as representatives of the private sector, including business and academia.

A copy of the CALEA standards is available for review at the police department at 135 W. Carolina Ave.

Citizens can also submit written comments to the assessors by writing to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Inc., 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155 or on the web at http://www.calea.org.