Arlington Police Department again earns full state reaccreditation

Details: By YourArlington staff; Category: Police; 05 October 2023; Last Updated: 24 October 2023; Hits: 777

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From left, MPAC President Russ Stevens, Chief Julie Flaherty, Sgt. Jim Kiernan, Capt. Brendan Kiernan and Lt. Mike Flynn with the accreditation award. / Arlington Police Department photo

The Arlington Police Department again has earned reaccreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC), Chief Julie Flaherty announced recently. Reaccreditation has again been granted for three years.

The department first became a certified agency in March 2008 and then gained full accreditation status in September 2014.

An Oct. 5 news release said that accreditation is a self-initiated, lengthy and comprehensive evaluation process. Participating departments complete an internal self-review and an external assessment by MPAC experts.

Assessed May 9, 2023

The process is a voluntary evaluation by which police departments strive to meet and maintain the top standards of law enforcement. The release said the process is considered the best measure for a police department to compare itself against the established best practices around the country and region.

The department was assessed on May 9 by a team of commission-appointed assessors. The APD's efforts to earn reaccreditation were led by Capt. Brendan Kiernan, accreditation manager, with assistance from Sgt. Jim Kiernan and Lt. Mike Flynn.

The accreditation program consists of 257 mandatory standards as well as 125 optional standards. To achieve accreditation status, the department was required to meet all applicable mandatory standards as well as 60 percent of the optional standards.

These carefully selected standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations and technical support activities, the news release said.. They cover areas such as jurisdiction and mutual aid, collection and preservation of evidence, communications, working conditions, crime analysis, community involvement, financial management, internal affairs, juvenile operations, patrol administration, public information, records, training, traffic, drug enforcement and victim/witness assistance.