TEWKSBURY – Police Chief Ryan Columbus is pleased to report that the Tewksbury Police Department was found by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission to be in compliance with 178 standards required for MPAC certification.
Certification is a self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain the highest standards of law enforcement. Certification is considered the best measure of a police department against the established best practices around the country. Certification means:
- The department is committed to meeting professional standards.
- The department is willing to be assessed regularly by Commission-appointed assessors to confirm compliance with professional standards; and
- The department agrees to correct deficiencies discovered during the assessment to establish or re-establish compliance with standards.
The voluntary MPAC program requires that departments meet 178 mandatory standards to attain certification. Standards include maintaining up-to-date policies on Jurisdiction and Mutual Aid, Collection and Preservation of Evidence, Communications, Working Conditions, Crime Analysis, Community Involvement, Financial Management, Internal Affairs, Juvenile Operations, Patrol Administration, Public Information, Records, Traffic, Training, Drug Enforcement and Victim/Witness Assistance.
The certification process is long and rigorous. The Tewksbury Police Department’s certification efforts involved a self-review and subsequent evaluation by a team of Commission-appointed assessors who visited the department for a two-day assessment on April 4 and 5, and found the department to be in full compliance with all of the necessary standards required for certification.
Certification is considered a significant step toward accreditation, which requires departments to meet additional benchmarks in order to achieve MPAC’s highest standard for police departments.
Tewksbury Police are pursuing full accreditation as well.
MPAC is scheduled to review the compliance of Tewksbury Police and numerous other departments in October, at which time the commission will vote on whether to officially convey certification.
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