Penn Police vie for accreditation

A review of departmental procedures will include a town hall-style meeting. Finals week is just about to begin, and Van Pelt Library is growing more crowded by the day. Dorm room lights are staying on deep into the wee small hours. And at the Public Safety headquarters at 4040 Chestnut Street, the University Police -- the largest private police force in Pennsylvania, with more than 100 sworn officers -- are gearing up for a test that's been nearly four years in coming. Starting this weekend, the Penn Police will undergo a five-day operational review to evaluate their compliance with standards necessary for departmental accreditation by a national law enforcement organization. The national recognition is an honor held by only 26 university police forces nationwide. Benefits of accreditation include better liability insurance rates and additional protection in the case of lawsuits. And the preparation required for accreditation has forced the department to become a better and more efficient police force. The professional assessors come from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a 21-year-old Fairfax, Va.-based firm seeking to professionalize policing by enforcing rigorous voluntary standards. They will spend the next several days talking with officers, overseeing procedures and pouring over the UPPD's records to ensure that they meet the 361 standards necessary for the stamp of approval that confirms the department's readiness and professionalism. Other accredited departments include those at Brown and Georgetown universities, and a few in Pennsylvania, like the Philadelphia Housing Authority and the state police. Big-city police forces, like the Philadelphia Police Department, are rarely officially accredited. According to University Police Chief Maureen Rush, the official process will kick off Saturday night with the assessors spending the evening riding along with officers on their nightly patrols. The real review, however, will begin on Sunday morning, when the University Police will close down part of Chestnut Street to display the many divisions of their department. "Sunday morning at 8:30 we're going to do what we call a static display," Rush said. "We're going to close down Chestnut Street between 40th and 41st streets and we're going to have all of our police vehicles -- the wagon, the motorcycles, the cars, the emergency response team van -- and all of us in different uniforms to show them the breadth of our department." Following the display, the assessors -- professional examiners who represent a variety of law enforcement-related fields -- will hold meetings and interviews with various Public Safety officials. They'll also spend time going over Penn Police records to check for consistency and completeness. And after the assessors have checked out all the records and talked to all the officials, the public will have a chance to weigh in. On Monday, the department will host a town hall-style meeting at 7 p.m. at the Public Safety building so that students and area residents can share their feelings on whether the UPPD is suited for accreditation. "Basically, telephone comments as well as appearances before the panel are limited to 10 minutes and must address the agency's ability to comply with CALEA standards," Rush explained. The highlight of the meeting will be an appearance by Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney, who is expected to discuss the good working relationship the UPPD shares with Philadelphia Police. "Some of the things [Timoney] can speak to are the professionalism of the department and all the strides we've made in working with the Philadelphia Police," Rush said. She added that although she expects a number of University community members to attend the meeting, there is no way to predict how many people will show up or call in. "Hopefully it will be packed," Rush said. "Maybe people will come in waving UPPD banners or something like that." Following the review this weekend, the assessors will compile a report and present it at an accreditation review board hearing conducted this July in Indiana. At that point, Rush and other department officials will answer final questions and learn whether the UPPD has earned its long-awaited accreditation. "I really don't anticipate any challenges [with the accreditation]," Rush said. "From watching that process and hearing back from mock assessors, I think we're in good shape."