It’s been a long time coming.

The Southold Town Police Department received its New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation certificate from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services on Thursday — two decades after it first took steps to achieve the designation.

The accreditation program is voluntary and designed to improve effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism in departments, while promoting training and fostering public confidence in law enforcement. Each department has to be recertified every five years.

“This is something that the department has been working towards for a very long time,” Chief Steve Grattan said. “Our community is overwhelmingly supportive of us and what we do, and this provides the community with confidence that this police department is operating according to established professional standards at the highest level of service.”

Of more than 500 law enforcement agencies statewide, 185 have earned accreditation, according to the chief.

The department first began looking into earning accreditation in 2006, but factors such as COVID-19 and last year’s ransomware attack, among others, delayed the process.

To earn accreditation, the department had to meet or exceed 112 standards — each with substandards — ranging from administration operations to training. Three assessors visited the department in April to go through all the necessary paperwork and files. They also conducted over 500 interviews with department members about each of the standards.

“This is a reflection of everybody here, and the town should be proud of the work that this department does,” Captain Scott Latham, who led the charge throughout the process, said. “It’s a recognition of professionalism and best practices.”

Capt. Latham was also presented with the John Kimble O’Neil Certificate of Achievement in recognition of his efforts in ensuring the department met or exceeded all of the 112 accreditation standards.

He said while he got an additional recognition, it’s really he entire department’s recognition. He feels it has nothing to do with him, other than that he was the one who put the paperwork together.

“It wasn’t me, I was just the nerd who knows how to write policy and enjoys that kind of stuff,” he said. “It was everybody in this department doing what they do every day. I also have to give a shout-out to the chief, because we worked hand in hand, we worked great together.”

The post Southold police earn state accreditation after two-decade effort appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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