North Reading Police to Be Evaluated for State Accreditation

[Editor's note: The following is a press release from the North Reading Police Department.]

Chief of Police Edward W. Nolan is pleased to announce that a team of assessors from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission is scheduled to arrive on Jan. 10, 2011, to begin examining various aspects of thepolicies and procedures, operations and facilities.

Verification by the Assessment Team that the department meets the commission's standards is part of a voluntary process to gain State Accreditation -- a self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain standards that have been established for the profession, by the law enforcement professional organizations and institutions. These standards represent the best of the best practices for law enforcement.

The Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program consists of 253 mandatory standards as well as 122 optional standards. In order to achieve accreditation status, the department must meet all applicable mandatory standards as well as 60 percent of the optional standards.

Achieving accreditation is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. Anyone interested in learning more about this program is invited to call Chief Nolan or the department's accreditation manager, Sgt. Michael Murphy, at 978-664-3131.