The Newtown Police Department has received reaccreditation from the state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC), signifying the department’s continuing compliance with a broad range of law enforcement standards.

The recognition provides the department with certain credentials in the field of municipal law enforcement.

Lieutenant Christopher Vanghele, who is the department’s operations commander, said this week that on March 12, the department received the Tier 1 reaccreditation from POSTC.

There are three levels of accreditation, with Tier 1 being the basic level.

It is the fourth time that the police department has received accreditation. The current Tier 1 accreditation status runs for three years.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe, along with Lt Vanghele, who is the department’s accreditation manager, and also Cynthia Mazzucco, who is an administrative assistant at the police department, attended a POSTC session to formally receive an accreditation certificate.

Chief Kehoe on March 31 expressed thanks to police department staffers who worked on the reaccreditation project. The chief singled out Lt Vanghele and Ms Mazzucco, among others, for their efforts.

“The certification shows the department’s commitment to excellence and professionalism in policing in Newtown,” Chief Kehoe said.

The results of a recent reaccreditation inspection at the police station indicates that the police department follows the best practices in law enforcement, he added.

Tier 1 accreditation is a voluntary, cooperative process formulated by POSTC to assist law enforcement agencies in the state reduce their exposure to civil liability and also to provide quality law enforcement service.

The review process involves 127 standards which identify potential liability issues and the actions which a law enforcement agency should take to address those issues.

As part of the accreditation process, a municipal law enforcement agency reviews the 127 applicable standards. It then takes the actions required by those standards, such as developing various written police policies. It then assembles documentation on that agency’s compliance with the standards. The documentation is then subject to formal review by a group of police assessors.

If the standards are satisfied as a result of the inspection, the police agency would then receive accreditation from POSTC.

On January 23, a team of police assessors reviewed thousands of pages of documents at the Newtown police station. They decided that the police department met the standards of accreditation and recommended its reaccreditation to POSTC.

“Accreditation represents a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence,” according to Lt Vanghele.

The Newtown Police Department has 45 sworn members. It was organized in 1971.