Assessors from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC) plan to examine the Arlington Police Department’s policies and procedures, operations and facilities.

The effort, announced in an April 18 news release from John Guilfoil Public Relations, said the MPAC team plans to conduct the on-site assessment beginning Tuesday, May 9.

Verification by the assessment team that the Department meets MPAC standards is part of the process to gain or maintain state accreditation — a voluntary, self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain standards that have been established by the profession.

These standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations and technical support. They include policy development, emergency response planning, training, communications, property and evidence handling, use of force, vehicular pursuit, prisoner transportation and holding facilities. The program not only sets standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to citizens.

The commission offers two program awards -- certification and accreditation, and the latter is regarded as the higher of the two.

The Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program consists of 257 mandatory standards as well as 125 optional standards. To achieve accreditation status, the Arlington Police must meet all applicable mandatory standards as well as 55 percent of the optional standards.

The Arlington Police Department became a certified agency in March 2008 and then gained full accreditation status in September 2014. If achieved, the reaccreditation award will be granted for three years.

Oct. 7, 2014: FULL CREDIT: In a first, town police awarded complete accreditation

This news summary was published Wednesday, April 19, 2023, based on information from a news release by Robert Mills of John Guilfoil Public Relations.