Video: Starkville PD Seeks CALEA Re-accreditation

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STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Final exams are over for students, but not for the Starkville Police Department.

Since May, the department has been trying to get its re-accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols says This re-accreditation is so important because out of the 18 thousand law enforcement agencies in the U.S., only 5 percent are accredited.

“You have officers in your department that are performing at an exemplary level,” Nichols said. “That means you have professional people working for you.”

This is the third year the Starkville Police Department is seeking re-accreditation.  The process  involves CALEA performing in-house policy reviews, public listening sessions, and even phone polls.

Chief Nichols also says it’s a very rigorous process, but in the end it improves his department, so he’s going for a good grade again.

“They involve so many critical areas such as high speed pursuits. Not every agency has a policy on high speed pursuits,” he said. “So they look at what your policy is saying, and are you doing what your policy says.”

The commission measures nearly 200 standards that involve all facets of the police department, and whether or not each standard is up to par.

The Starkville police department will get their results in November.
This is the last day Officials with this accreditation board will be reviewing the police department.