Tennessee Tech’s campus police force has started the process to become accredited.
Director of Publicity Jonathan Frank said that means the police department is working to align its procedures and operations with the standards set by the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. He said the university police is already professional and outstanding, so the force thought it made sense to pursue accreditation.
“Under the leadership of Chief Tony Nelson, they are always striving for excellence they take their mission to protect and serve our campus very seriously,” Frank said. “So they wanted to submit to this process to ensure the department is always adhering to best practices and always working in the best interest of the university.”
Frank said the process to become accredited is 36 months long. He said during that time there are benchmarks that the department has to meet every three months to continue in the program.
Frank said those benchmarks are essentially the same for all police departments seeking accreditation but can vary based on special programs. For example, he said Tech’s police do not have a K-9 unit or a SWAT unit and would not have procedures related to that.
“University police is currently scheduling accreditation trainings,” Frank said. “And after those trainings are set they’ll begin the process of making sure they’re aligning those departmental policies with the best policy standards.”
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