The Camp Verde Marshal’s Office will be the first department in the Verde Valley to receive an Arizona accreditation proving its dedication to following best practices and policies.
The Marshal’s Office has passed the requirements to be awarded accreditation by the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program in June, and will officially receive its accreditation July 13 at a Law Enforcement Summit in Flagstaff.
Administrative Lt. Stephen Butler, who was placed in charge of the accreditation process for the Camp Verde office, said it decided to pursue the voluntary program in order to increase its transparency in the community by having policies in place that can be checked against the standards of an established, statewide third party.
“With the current political environment, we need to hold ourselves to a higher level of professionalism,” he said. “If we don’t set a standard for our police department to strive for, we risk some other entity doing it for us.”
While there are a number of national accreditation opportunities, the ALEAP was created in 2017 after the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police decided to make one locally.
“It basically says, ‘What’s your policy? How are you guys following policy?’And you have to show proof of it,” Camp Verde Marshal Corey Rowley said. “One thing the state of Arizona found was that there needed to be a more streamlined approach to the accreditation, and so Arizona came up with this.”
The Camp Verde Marshal’s Office was one of the first 10 departments to enroll in the program and has finally reached the finish line after two years. The Clarkdale and Jerome police departments are also enrolled in the program and are working on receiving accreditation.
Accreditation requires five steps. First, the office must apply to the Commission Board. Once the application is approved, the department must complete a self-assessment, which can take up to two years. During that phase, the department must examine its own policies and make any changes necessary to meet the standards set by the commission. The department must then provide proof of compliance with these procedures.
The program’s executive board has identified 175 policy standards a department must be in compliance with in order to become accredited. Some of the policies include meeting the state standards regarding use of force, firearms tactics and use, arrests, bias, budgeting, documentation, disciplinary procedures, staff compensation and communication. There is also an entire section dedicated to working with tribal partners and policing in an “Indian country jurisdiction.”
To test how well the office was doing in practicing these policies, it went through a mock assessment, which involved an internal and external review of its operations. Following the self-assessment, there is an on-site assessment phase in which a two-person team, compiled of individuals from various agencies that are also enrolled in the accreditation process, comes to the agency and reviews its files, tours the facility, interviews employees, rides along with officers and includes the public in a call-in session.
Once completed, the team writes a formal report of the experience and gives a recommendation to the Commission Board to either approve or deny the accreditation.
“We were already informed by the assessment team that they are recommending the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office receive this award,” Butler said.
The next phase involves a hearing in front of the commission in which the final report is reviewed and the award is presented, which is scheduled to take place for the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office July 13.
Once the accreditation is awarded, there is still one final phase. The agency must maintain compliance with the set standards and must submit an annual report for three years following the initial accreditation. After four years, the agency must repeat the accreditation process to maintain its status.
Butler said this status gives them an objective “stamp of approval” that can potentially decrease its risk of litigation as well as keep the community safe knowing that its police force is being held accountable by a credible outside resource.
“Accreditation status represents a significant professional achievement. Accreditation acknowledges the implementation of sound written directives that are conceptually and operationally effective. With the accreditation, there will be a constant review and updating of our written directives,” Butler said.
Representatives from the accreditation commission board will be attending the Camp Verde Town Council meeting on July 21 at 6:30 p.m. to present the accreditation to the public and the council.
