University Police Dept. gets national accreditation

After a four-year struggle, the University of Pennsylvania Police Department finally received national accreditation, making it the first campus police agency in Pennsylvania to receive such an honor. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., made the announcement this past weekend at its spring conference in Greensboro, N.C. Sixty-two different agencies were in Greensboro over the weekend to receive either accreditation or reaccreditation. In a statement issued yesterday, Penn Police Chief and Interim Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush noted that "by obtaining accredited status, the UPPD is now among an elite group of professional law enforcement agencies that have demonstrated excellence and professionalism in the delivery of law enforcement services to the community." By becoming accredited, police departments also gain controlled liability costs. To attain this status, the UPPD had to comply with CALEA's 439 standards. Rush and several other members of the UPPD traveled to Greensboro to receive the award. "We're thrilled," Rush said. "We immediately called back home to announce this, and everyone is relieved and delighted." The department went through an intense five-day operational review in the spring of 2000, but accreditation was delayed until this spring after CALEA found the UPPD in violation of one of its standards. While CALEA mandates that all police departments have a single telephone number, the UPPD has two -- one each for on- and off-campus residents. In August of 2000, Rush travelled to Chicago to appeal the ruling, claiming that both numbers are necessary to accommodate the fact that many Penn students live off-campus. The department was allowed to keep both numbers, but accreditation was still pushed back until this month. As part of the accreditation process, a team of law enforcement practitioners from out-of-state agencies similar to the UPPD assessed the department based on written materials, individual interviews and visits to the UPPD's headquarters. The accreditation lasts for three years, at the end of which a department must be reaccredited. "It's critical that you keep up with paperwork and any time-sensitive reports," Accreditation Manager Sgt. Gary Heller said. "It's tougher for an agency to get reaccredited because you have to show that you're practicing what you preach." But Heller said he feels that the UPPD will have no problems when the time for reaccreditation rolls around. "As long as you make sure your files are up to date you should be in good shape, and I don't anticipate us having any problem with that," Heller said. The UPPD began its quest for accreditation back in 1996 under the leadership of then-Vice President for Public Safety Thomas Seamon. Seamon appointed current Interim Police Chief and Deputy Chief of Operations Michael Fink to head the department's efforts for reaching national police standards. By November of 1999, Heller was named accreditation manager, and the UPPD had already completed three-fourths of the accreditation process. "It's been a long four years, but the process has been very beneficial," Rush said. "It made us look at every policy and procedure in the department." "These are national policies that are in place in our department, that we live with each and every day. We're gearing up for three years from now, for our reaccreditation," she added.

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