Accreditation

The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association introduced the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program to the Commonwealth in July of 2001. Since then, over 300 agencies have enrolled and 83 agencies currently have attained accredited status.

Accreditation is a progressive and time-proven way of helping institutions evaluate and improve their overall performance. The cornerstone of this strategy lies in the promulgation of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives. Participating administrators then conduct a thorough analysis to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet these objectives. When the procedures are in place, a team of independent professionals is assigned to verify that all applicable standards have been successfully implemented. The process culminates with a decision by an authoritative body that the institution is worthy of accreditation.

After years of hard work, on site assessments, policy changes/review, and other requirements, we have reached our goal of being accredited. As of August 29, 2009, the Hampden Township Police Department was officially accredited by the PA Chief’s of Police Association. The department has since been re-accredited in 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2021.