Joliet Police Department reaccredited
By BRIAN STANLEY Bstanley@stmedianetwork.com August 24, 2012 7:38PM
Updated: September 27, 2012 10:58AM
JOLIET — The cops aced another exam.
The state’s fourth-largest municipal police department has been reaccredited for following proper law enforcement policies and procedures.
In April, two inspectors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies evaluated whether the department had met 480 different standards.
The commission first accredited the Joliet police in 2003 and has conducted an assessment every three years.
“They check everything from the department’s financials to our ‘use of force’ policy to how officers respond to a domestic call,” Officer Frank Coleman said. “The standards include what brochures are in the lobby.”
Coleman and Jen O’Rourke worked under Quality Assurance Cmdr. Rich Demick to make sure the department complied with commission requirements.
“There’s been a lot of turnover (including) a whole new command staff, so they had a lot of work to do,” Chief Mike Trafton said. “And even though we’re down 55 sworn members, we still met all the standards.”
The commission evaluators, who were supervisors from police departments in other states, spent four days going through department records, interviewing employees and going on ridealongs.
“They also went into the community to seek comments from the public,” Trafton said. “After the inspection I had phone interviews with the board of commissioners who told me they were impressed with everything, particularly our evidence section and communications center.”
A benefit of having the audit for the department and the community is when officers are questioned by attorneys about their procedures during a criminal case, they can say they’ve been reviewed by an outside agency.
Trafton said the assessment results gave him “tremendous pride” in the department.
