"From Worst to First" - Stoughton Police Department Achieves Accreditation

After a lengthy discussion with Selectmen on April 23 about several public safety issues surrounding a Stoughton nightclub, Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany ended on a positive note. He told Selectmen the department had achieved accredited status from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

Sworn in as chief April 5, 2010, the Stoughton Police Department has been working towards accreditation since.

"It was a goal of mine before I was appointed [chief]. When I was appointed it was a mission," Shastany said.

Deputy Chief Robert Devine and Accreditation manager Sgt. Tom Murphy were honored at a Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission conference on May 2, receiving the SPD's official accreditation plaque, which recognizes professional excellence in the field of policing.

Prior to the May 2 ceremony, just 44 departments were accredited, with 10 from this group representing colleges and universities.

Devine called it the "culmination of a three year journey from worst to first."

"When the chief was hired we had been through a lot," Devine said.

Now, Devine said the department has "made the town proud of us [and] earned back their trust."

"We've just come so far," he said. "We're very well respected in the law enforcement community."

Going for accreditation is a grueling multi-year process where the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission evaluates and critiques the department's policies and procedures, operations and facilities.

It is a "a self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain standards that have been established for the profession, by the profession," according to a press release.

The Stoughton Police Department achieved certification last May, a critical second step in the three-step accreditation process. The last year was spent going from certified status to accredited status.

A department must meet all of the 257 mandatory standards and 60 percent of the 125 optional standards (75) to achieve accreditation. The SPD met 92 of these optional standards, in addition to clearing all of the mandatory ones, Devine said.

Shastany said when he left the Framingham Police Department to come to Stoughton he was going from an accredited department to a "department in distress."

But, he said, "people forget there was a lot of good people [at the Stoughton Police Department] who operated under a cloud of suspicion...to work in an environment where because of one person everyone thinks you're bad is wrong."

"My job," Shastany said, "was to clear the path, bring the best out in everyone and create and environment where their voices were heard."

"I wanted accreditation, excellence and transparency," he said.

The chief credited his officers for making this accreditation goal possible, and calls the accreditation plaque their "badge of honor."

"The officers did the work. They labored real hard. The credit goes to them," Shastany said.

"We are very proud of where we are, and at the same time can't forget the past," he added.

Shastany lauded the work of Sgt. Murphy, the accreditation manager, calling him the "star" of this process.

"He had a global understanding of the policing industry," Shastany said.

One of Shastany's goals was to increase training across the board and create experts in many areas of policing within his own department. Stoughton has also made advancements in social media and community policing and proactive police work.

Shastany said that there used to be a "deficit of information" from the police department, but that now the SPD is "very liberal" with the information it provides the public.

"We have nothing to hide and a lot to be proud of," he said.

But even though the Stoughton Police Department has achieved accreditation, the work is not done, Devine and Shastany said.

A department must maintain its accredited status.

"We're in an elite group. We're happy to be here. We want to stay here," Devine said.

"We're striving for excellence," Shastany said. "Just to meet the standards and be good enough is not good enough. We're proud of what we do."