ERMA — Lower Township Police Chief Edward Donohue and members of the Command Staff traveled to Princeton Wednesday, April 8 to answer questions in front of a 12-member review panel of the New Jersey Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission.
The Commission is made up of current and retired police chiefs throughout New Jersey, as well as members of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and executives from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.
Donohue and Lt. Christopher Winter, who coordinated the two year long accreditation process for the department, took questions from the panel for approximately 20 minutes relating to the department’s rules and regulations, general orders and standard operating procedures.
Following the meeting, the commission voted unanimously to award State Accreditation to the Lower Township Police Department. Of the over 500 municipalities in New Jersey, the Lower Township Police Department was only the 30th in the state to receive accreditation status.
On March 21st, the department received National Recognition from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement or CALEA. As a result of the accreditation, Lower Township will receive a discount on its Joint Insurance Fund payments.
The department will be officially recognized for its achievements at the New Jersey State Police Chief’s Convention in Atlantic City in June and at a Township Council Meeting in the near future.
Donohue acknowledged the members of the Lower Township Police Department including patrol officers, detectives, command personnel and clerical personnel for their efforts in achieving accreditation status for the police department.
The Lower Township Police Department underwent a three-day on- site assessment last October for the accreditation process, which confirmed that the department had met all 112 standards recognized for state accreditation. The standards encompass all phases of police operations from fingerprinting to vehicle pursuits to the transportation of prisoners and handling of evidence.
Several officials on the review board praised the department for their assistance in rendering mutual aid to other police departments in Cape May County, specifically with being a leader in the area of SWAT operations for many years and providing technical assistance with sophisticated crime scene investigation equipment employed by the Lower Township Detective Division.
The board noted that the Lower Township Police Department also has attempted to reach out to the public in a Community Policing effort whereby the department generates a written citizen survey, which is mailed out to residents on a quarterly basis, asking for input regarding the department’s services to the public, including comments from subjects who have been arrested by the police department.
The board also noted the activities of Lower Township School Resource Officers and acknowledged that the department was one of the first police departments in the county to have School Resource Officers assigned to its extensive school system.
The board also recognized that the Lower Township police was the first police department in the state to have personnel trained in the use of a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer Device for use in criminal investigations.
In closing, the board also noted that the police department has a very low percentage of police pursuits, internal affairs investigations and disciplinary Issues compared with police departments of similar make up throughout the state.
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