LOWELL — Police Superintendent Raymond Kelly Richardson is pleased to announce that the Lowell Police Department has achieved State Certification from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC).
“I made a commitment to further professionalize this department when I was sworn into my role in August of 2018, and this is a major milestone in our constant effort at continued growth as a department,” Superintendent Richardson said. “Certification will affect the department in a positive way for years to come, by having checks and balances in place to ensure we are up to date with current policies and best practices.”
The department proactively committed to the process in 2019. A recent police reform bill requires all law enforcement departments to seek certification. Lowell is the largest city police department in the state to receive MPAC certification.
Certification is considered the best measure of a police department against the established best practices around the country. Certification means:
- The department is committed to meeting professional standards.
- The department is willing to be assessed regularly by Commission-appointed assessors to confirm compliance with professional standards; and
- The department agrees to correct deficiencies discovered during the assessment to establish or re-establish compliance with standards.
Lowell’s certification efforts spanned 29 months and involved a self-review and subsequent assessment by the Commission’s team of subject matter experts.
The voluntary MPAC program requires that departments meet 159 mandatory standards to attain certification. Standards include maintaining up-to-date policies on Jurisdiction and Mutual Aid, Collection and Preservation of Evidence, Communications, Working Conditions, Crime Analysis, Community Involvement, Financial Management, Internal Affairs, Juvenile Operations, Patrol Administration, Public Information, Records, Traffic, Training, Drug Enforcement and Victim/Witness Assistance.
Certification is considered a significant step toward accreditation, which requires departments to meet additional standards in order to achieve MPAC’s highest honor for police departments.
“I would like to thank Deputy Superintendent Dan Larocque, Sgt. Jonathan Noone and Officer Christy Delaney and the entire command staff here at the Lowell Police Department for helping us realize this long-sought goal,” Superintendent Richardson said.
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