BELCHERTOWN, MA — A team of assessors from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission is scheduled to arrive Wednesday to examine various aspects of the Belchertown Police Department’s policies and procedures, operations and facilities.
Verification by the assessment team that the department meets the commission’s standards is part of a voluntary process to gain state accreditation, 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 Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program consists of 274 mandatory standards as well as 120 optional standards.
To achieve accreditation status, the department must meet all applicable mandatory standards as well as 55% of the optional standards.
