The department was honored at the most recent meeting of the Evesham Township Council on Nov. 22.
Evesham’s police force had the spotlight at the most recent meeting of the Evesham Township Council when the department was honored for reaching accreditation through a new program from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.
Chief of Police Christopher Chew described the program as a way for accredited police departments to gain another level of accountability and be able to adhere to the strict, uniform standards.
As the Evesham Police Department is already accredited through the nationally run Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Chew said NJSACOP accreditation makes Evesham the only department in New Jersey to hold dual accreditation through a state and national agency.
To gain accreditation through the NJSACOP, Chew said an assessor was sent toEvesham to rate all departmental policies and procedures, interview police officers, review evidence and more.
Chew said the NJSACOP accreditation program is also designed to be specific to the state, meaning the program requires departments to have best practices and procedures based on New Jersey’s laws.
Also at the council meeting to honor the department was Harry Delgato, manager of the NJSACOP accreditation program. Delgato said there were more than 500 law enforcement agencies in New Jersey eligible to receive accreditation through the program, but only 170 had done so.
“The are 29 states that have their own standalone accreditation agencies, and we are the fastest-growing accreditation program in the nation, so that is a privilege,” Delgato said.
Upon receiving accreditation, Evesham’s Police Department was singled out for professionalism, dedication to its body camera program and its mental health initiatives.
Delgato described accreditation as an ongoing “process” rather than a “one-time event,” meaning the department will now have to make a commitment to submitting itself to voluntary onsite assessments every three years.
According to Delgato, research shows that accreditation can also help local taxpayers, as accredited departments have 11 percent fewer police professional liability claims, 18 percent fewer worker compensation claims and 31 percent fewer auto liability claims.
“More importantly, accredited agencies are better able to defend against lawsuits and citizen complaints, and accreditation provides objective evidence of an agency’s commitment to excellence in leadership, resource management and service delivery,” Delgato said.
Delgato said in many instances the Evesham Police Department exceeded the accepted practices in the field of law enforcement.
“We look for exemplary performance issues, and in this case, we found that the Evesham Police Department is a model law enforcement agency in every sense of the word,” Delgato said.
Delgato also praised the Evesham department for helping with the launch of the accreditation program by helping develop sample policies with the NJSACOP.
