Middle Police Receive Accreditation

COURT HOUSE – Chief Christopher Leusner and Sgt. William Adams appeared before the Board of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission recently in hopes of having the Middle Township Police Department receive reaccreditation. After questioning Leusner and Adams, the board voted to award the agency accreditation status. An onsite assessment of the department occurred in August. The assessors gave the department a favorable assessment and forwarded a report to the commission board recommending it continue having accreditation status.
Accreditation is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. The program is a voluntary statewide law enforcement program developed by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police. Accreditation is the certification by an independent reviewing authority that the police department has met specific requirements and prescribed standards. Additionally accreditation is a progressive and time proven way of helping law enforcement agencies improve their overall performance. There are many benefits to a police department achieving accreditation status including increasing the police department’s ability to prevent and control crime through more effective and efficient delivery of services.
The Middle Township Police Department first received accreditation status in 2006 and over the next three-plus years had to comply with 112 standards developed by the accreditation commission. The standards are based primarily on national standards developed by CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies) as well as New Jersey statutory and regulatory law. The standards call for the department to have policies in place using the best practices in law enforcement. The department is required to show that it is following the standards with a proof. These proofs are documentation of department employees using the best practices as defined by the standards.