Maitland City Talk

After three years of hard work, thousands of pages of documents and an on-site visit, the Maitland Police Department earned its fourth consecutive Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation award. The Department was presented with this prestigious award on Thursday, June 27, during the Commission’s annual business meeting. This was the Maitland Police Department’s fourth successful reaccreditation after first being accredited in 2000. The award was the culmination of three years of labor to maintain compliance with the rigorous rules and regulations required by the Commission, and included a three-day visit to our department by three assessors from the Commission.

The Commission for Law Enforcement Accreditation was established in 1995, and is the accrediting body for law enforcement agencies in our state. This organization is responsible for reviewing the policies, procedures, daily operations, equipment and facilities of a law enforcement agency to determine if they meet the rigid standards as outlined in the Commission’s rules and regulations. This all sounds impressive, but what does the accreditation process mean to you, the residents of our city?

The accreditation award ensures that your police department is prepared to prevent and control crime through the effective use of industry “best practices.” That is, we use the most up-to-date and proven methods in our day-to-day delivery of services. You may be assured that your police department has policies and procedures in place that ensure your police operate in a professional, ethical and modern manner, that we embrace the “community policing” philosophy, and acknowledge that we must have a partnership with our community in order to be effective.

The accreditation process goes even further and examines and audits three years of documents and department paperwork to ensure we are in compliance with the more than 250 accreditation standards. After the department receives its initial accreditation, it receives an on-site visit every three years from three assessors who are appointed by the Commission. These assessors visit the department and examine every aspect of the operation, including policies and procedures, the vehicles and the physical plant. While on-site, they question members of the department from all divisions and may even speak with citizens. Then the assessors present their findings and recommendation to the Commission, which determines if our department was in compliance and should be reaccredited.

This entire process is voluntary and not all police departments participate. Your police department made the choice to participate in the accreditation process to ensure that you are provided the highest level of professional law enforcement services. This process culminated on Thursday, June 27, when we were presented with this prestigious award during the Commission’s annual business meeting in Bonita Springs. Because this award is such an important accomplishment, the award ceremony was attended by Vice Mayor Linda Frosch, City Manager Jim Williams, Chief Doug Ball, Deputy Chief Bill McEachnie and Lt. John Schardine. The Commission was impressed that our city officials traveled four hours to attend this ceremony, and noted that our city’s officials attendance was reflective of the city’s dedication and commitment to the accreditation process. Because the accreditation process never stops, we are already preparing to our next re-accreditation in 2016.

– Bill McEachnie, deputy chief of police