Wilmington Police Department To Be Evaluated For Re-Accreditation

WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington Police Department has announced that it will be undergoing a voluntary assessment later this month in order to be re-accredited by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission.

Assessors from the commission will arrive at the Wilmington PD on May 22, and will begin examining various aspects of the department's policies and procedures, operations and facilities, according to a Wilmington PD spokesperson.

"State accreditation is 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," the Wilmington PD said in a statement.

The statement continued: "The program not only sets standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to citizens of the Commonwealth."

According to a Wilmington PD spokesperson, the standards by which the department will be assessed reflect critical areas of police management, operations and technical support activities.

The department will be evaluated in areas such as policy development, emergency response planning, training, communications, property, evidence handling, use of force, vehicular pursuit, prisoner transportation and holding facilities.

There are a total of 257 mandatory standards and 125 optional standards that are part of the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program.

To receive accreditation status, the Wilmington PD must meet all the applicable mandatory standards and 60 percent of the optional standards, according to a spokesperson for the Wilmington PD.

If the department does meet the necessary standards, re-accreditation will be granted for a period of three years.

"Achieving accreditation is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence," a Wilmington PD spokesman said.