Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes with Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission Chairperson Chief Mark Leahy of Northboro.
On September 12th, 2013 the Chelsea Police Department received a State Accreditation Award from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission at a ceremony held at the Andover Country Club.
Law Enforcement Accreditation is a self-initiated voluntary evaluation process by which police departments from across the commonwealth strive to meet and maintain law enforcement standards that have been established for the profession and by the profession. These carefully selected professional standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations, and technical support activities. They cover areas such as policy development, emergency response planning, training, communications, property and evidence handling, use of force, vehicular pursuit, prisoner transportation and the efficient operation of a secure holding facility. The accreditation program not only sets standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to citizens of the commonwealth.
Under the direction and leadership of Chief Brian A. Kyes and CPD Accreditation Co-Managers Captain David Batchelor and Captain Thomas Dunn as well as Accreditation Assistant Helen Ramirez, the Chelsea Police Department was assessed in June of 2013 by a panel of highly trained Commission Assessors. The MPAC Assessment Team found the CPD to be in compliance with ALL applicable Mandatory Standards and the department also exceeded by over 20% the required number of the Voluntary Standards necessary for Accreditation.
“Achieving Accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission is a very significant accomplishment and a recognition highly regarded by the law enforcement community,” said Donna Taylor Mooers, the Commission’s Executive Director.
“Going through the process initially requires intense and ongoing self-scrutiny, and ultimately provides a comprehensive top-down quality assurance review of the entire agency,” stated Chief Kyes. “In pursuit of this endeavor I remain extremely proud of all the men and women of the CPD who continually strive for excellence in the delivery of an optimum law enforcement and community policing product to the stakeholders in our community”, continued Kyes.
The Chelsea Police Department is currently only one of 37 police departments statewide (including 10 major college and university police agencies) and only one of 9 of the 35 Major City Police Departments in the commonwealth to attain Accreditation. The CPD was first Certified in 2003, Re-Certified in 2008, first Accredited in 2010 and now Re-Accredited in September of 2013.