Lower Police Receive Reaccreditation

ERMA – Lower Township Police Department received its first reaccreditation Nov. 14, 2013 after fulfilling all of the standards established by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police on accreditation. The department was originally awarded its accreditation in April 9, 2009.
On April 28 and 29, 2013, Lower Township Police Department took part in its second on-site assessment as a part of a program to achieve reaccreditation, stated Lower Township Chief of Police William Mastriana.
A team of assessors was sent to the department and evaluated all agency policies and procedures to ensure that they were conceptually sound and operationally effective. The accreditation program requires agencies to comply with standards in five basic areas that represent the best practices in law enforcement.
“You are assessed on everything including all your policies and procedures to ensure you’re following best practices,” he said.
Accreditation requires a police department to comply with 100 standards that represent the best practices in law enforcement. The assessors look at policies and procedures, administration, personnel functions, support services and investigations.
A police department is required to document its continuing use of these best practices by providing proofs of compliance each year, after its initial accreditation, said Mastriana.
“It helps an agency to help improve its overall performance, it gives guidelines for officers to follow when they are in the field,” he said.
All the policies and procedures are easily accessible to the township’s police officers online even in their vehicles through their onboard computers.
“It also helps improve the liability aspect of an agency to show we’re following the best practices that are established throughout the state,” said Mastriana.
A presentation of the reaccreditation will be made before Lower Township Council at its March 3 meeting at 6 p.m. at Township Hall. The Lower Township Police Department became the 30th department in the state to receive state accreditation.