Fall River PD Face Evaluation This Week by National Organization

FALL RIVER — The Fall River Police Department is being evaluated by a national organization this week on the department’s procedures, protocols and perception to the public.

The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement (CALEA) will begin the evaluation Monday, remaining on-site for three days. Captain Jacqui Boykin, of the Knightdale, N.C. Police Department; and Captain Joseph A. Race, of the Madison, C.T. Police Department; are leading the evaluation.

This is the final phase of the re-accreditation process which occurs every three years.

“The biggest part of the accreditation process is the policies and procedures.  CALEA is a national agency that basically sends out standards and they tweak them as society changes or requirements change within the police department,” said Fall River Police Sergeant J.T. Hoar.

“What it really does is give us consistency in how we handle things from purchasing and ordering to all the way up to procedures that we do on the street with our patrol division. It really gives us guidelines so if people don’t want to do, they know to go to a policy and are able to get the right direction so we’re doing it consistently every time.”

The Fall River Police Department is one of three Municipal Police Departments in Massachusetts who have achieved accreditation from CALEA. The Department first achieved accreditation on November 21, 2009 and has successfully achieved re-accreditation every three years since. This will be the department’s third reaccreditation. The department has also been accredited by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission since 2007.

The FRPD is also one of two departments in the State that have both CALEA and MPAC accreditation.

As part of the on-site assessment portion of the review, assessors will be participating in a Public Information Session in the Community Room of the Fall River Police Department on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s really just for the assessors that are conducting the on-site re-accreditation process for CALEA to have an opportunity to speak with community leaders, government leaders and people who have a direct relationship with the police department,” said Hoar.

“It’s a total review of the police department’s policies and procedures, but also one of the instrumental parts of that is to see the community involvement in that we have and also our relationship with government leaders.”

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III, State Representatives Carole Fiola and Alan Silvia, and many neighborhood association and government leaders are expected to attend.