Members of the Southold Town police advisory committee asked the town board to move forward with seeking accreditation of the town police department by the state division of criminal justice services.
The Southold Town Police Department is the only police department in Suffolk County that has not been accredited by the state, according to the police advisory committee.
The town hasn’t yet sorted out the logistics of developing and maintaining the program, a lengthy and labor-intensive process that will require the initially require the full-time attention of a sergeant for about a year.
The department’s program manager is responsible for ensuring the agency has in place policies or procedures to meet each and every standard promulgated by the state. There are 110 standards, police advisory committee chairman Jack Slattery said.
Once the written work is completed, the state conducts an on-site assessment. The Law Enforcement Accreditation Council then votes on the accreditation application. If successful, the department will be issued a certificate of accreditation.
Annual maintenance is required by the accreditation program, but it is not as involved as the initial process.
“When you first get accredited, it is a full-time job,” Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said today. The Riverhead Police Department became an accredited law enforcement agency in 2011. “After, it does require annual maintenance, but the time requirement is significantly reduced. The department then goes through a re-accreditation process every five years, when the time commitment again increases, but nothing compared to the first time,” he said.
“It was well worth the effort,” Hegermiller said.
“It forces you to take a good look at your rules and procedures and makes sure that they are always a priority,” he said. “The other benefit that I see is that it helps to standardize policing state-wide. It helps to get us all on the same page.”
No one on the board objected to moving forward, though Councilman Bob Ghosio expressed concern that seeking accreditation may be “perceived as a vote of no confidence in the police department.” He said he has confidence in the police department and did not want people to think otherwise.
“This is a proactive, not a reactive, thing,” committee member Kevin Foote said.
Fishers Island Justice Louisa Fisher expressed concern about the financial impact of the program, questioning whether it would mean the department will be “top-heavy with sergeants.”
“If we believe in the mission we’ll find a way to make it happen,” Councilman William Ruland observed.
“There’s more to it than dollars and cents,” Ruland said.
“September would be the soonest we could push the button to start the process,” Slattery said.
After the meeting Councilman James Dinizio, the town board liaison to the police advisory committee, said he supports seeking accreditation “100 percent.” Dinizio said he does not believe Southold Town Police should be the only department in the county not accredited.
“We have a professional department, a fine force, and being the only department without accreditation sends a wrong message,” Dinizio said.
