BURRILLVILLE – The Burrillville Police Department was one of six agencies across the state recognized this week by the Rhode Island Police Accreditation Commission.
RIPAC held on awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 8, and noted that BPD has now earned its second reaccreditation award.
“Accreditation has long been recognized as a means of maintaining the highest standards of professionalism in law enforcement,” noted a release on the recipients.
The accreditation process provides a means for agencies to systematically conduct an internal review and assessment of its policies and procedures, looking at every aspect of organization, management and operations. It also consists of a formal, onsite assessment.
In the voluntary process, agencies strive to meet and maintain 217 standards that have been established for the police profession, covering six major areas: roles, responsibilities and relationships with other agencies; organization, management and administration; personnel administration; law enforcement operations, traffic and support; prisoner and court-related services; and auxiliary and technical services.
“Public safety depends on public trust, and building and maintaining trust with the community is heavily dependent on transparency and accountability. Accreditation is designed to help agencies demonstrate — to themselves and the public — their desire to learn and continuously improve,” RIPAC Executive Director Christine Crocker said. “We look forward to recognizing the six reaccredited agencies this week, as well as three individuals who have played an important role in their agency’s accreditation achievements.”
Agencies receiving their first reaccreditation award included the Hopkinton and Jamestown Police Departments, while the Barrington and North Kingstown Police Departments and the Rhode Island Capital Police also received their second.
RIPAC also recognized three individuals, presenting the Chief Anthony M. Pesare Leadership Award to officer Ken Conti of the Newport Police Department; the Assessor of the Year award to Lt. Joseph Tougas of the Central Falls Police Department; and the Accreditation Manager of the Year award to officer Jean Young of the Middletown Police Department
Rhode Island is one of 35 states with an accreditation program and the only state with 99 percent participation by eligible agencies. There are 46 agencies in the program, 35 of which have achieved RIPAC accreditation.
