City Managers--Most Frequently Asked Questions About Accreditation

William E. Kirchhoff, City Manager, Redondo Beach, CA, has managed cities ranging in population from 15,000 to nearly 300,000. A Board member of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Kirchhoff has been associated with three jurisdictions whose police departments have received national accreditation: Lakewood, CO; Arlington, TX; and Redondo Beach, CA. Here, he answers the questions that City Managers most frequently ask about accreditation.

1. Does the accreditation process help the City Manager?
   Very much so. Unless the City Manager is extremely well-grounded in all facets of police activities and operations which most of us are not, then he/she has no other choice but to place complete faith with the Police Chief. The accreditation process is one way to increase the City Manager's comfort level regarding the way the police department is managed.
2. Is there any reason why a police department shouldn't go through the accreditation process?
   I can't think of any legitimate reason not to go through the effort. It's the best way to upgrade police operations in a community, short of an expensive operational study by a consultant.
3. Are police departments different than other city departments?
   You bet! The fabled insularity of the police department tends to separate it from the rest of the city organization no matter how hard a City Manager tries to do otherwise. Managing the police department requires a bewildering variety of talents, interests, skills, and experience. If you are fortunate enough to have a talented Police Chief, then, the problem goes away. But Police Chiefs, like City Managers, are found at all points along the management spectrum – some are competent; some are semi-competent; and there are others who are in the wrong business. The accreditation process helps the Chief manage the police department and gives the City Manager an objective measure of the department's standing.
4. City Managers often express frustration with respect to managing their police departments. Why is that?
   It has been my experience that this happens for two reasons. First, the City Manager often does not understand the real workings of the police department and the forces shaping its activities. Second, the City Manager's formal training and education often does not address the management of a rigidly structured, semi-military organization led by a person of great status, "The Chief." Again, the accreditation process greatly improves the City Manager's ability to overcome these obstacles and do a better job managing police services.
5. Should a City Manager push for the accreditation process when the City Council has reservations about the cost and the Police Chief isn't interested?
   Yes. Given the complexity of modern day policing, the cost should be a non-issue. In fact, your Risk Manager will probably tell you the cost will be offset by either lower insurance premiums or fewer claims against the city. Unless you are 100 percent confident that your police department's policies meet all of the ethical, legal, and operational standards under which a contemporary police department must conduct its business, then you should put the agency through the accreditation process. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
6. Is it a difficult process?
   Yes, but shouldn't it be? On a daily basis, patrol officers are required to perform scores of acts that have personal, legal, and community implications. Supervisors are busy reviewing and processing paperwork, scheduling personnel, and developing and implementing crime-fighting strategies, while the Chief's desk is covered with City Council requests, media inquiries, citizen complaints, and crime and workload statistics. To be effective, to do what they must do legally, and to perform well against ever-increasing odds, these professionals not only need to be governed by the most contemporary policing policies, but also must be able to understand them. The accreditation process provides a forum for this knowledge and practice.
7. How does the process work?
   The accreditation process serves as an "audit" to determine whether or not the police department's operational policies, written and unwritten, comply with the standards to which City Managers, Police Chiefs, Supervisors and Patrol Officers are held accountable by the courts and the public in the everyday conduct of their business. By having an accredited police department, a City Manager can be reasonably confident that the agency is doing things right.
8. Does the agency's size make a difference?
   No, not in my opinion. I've managed five departments ranging in size from 50 to 700+ people. Accreditation works equally well in departments of all sizes. This is because the standards and the process are tailored to the size of an agency and the functions it performs.
9. What is the future of accreditation?
   The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies has accredited more than 600 departments and most of them are coming back through the process by way of reaccreditation. There are hundreds more in the pipeline. Accreditation is having a profound impact on modern policing and will continue to do so.
10. How would you characterize the departments that are accredited?
    In law enforcement circles, these are the lead police departments in the country. Departments that are generally looked to as innovative and first-rate are usually somewhere in the accreditation process.
11. How can a City Manager get more information about police accreditation?
    That's simple. Just write or call the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., 10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100, Fairfax, VA 22030-2215, 800-368-3757.