Chief of Police Joel Hash, Professional Standards Lt. Bryan Bard, and Accreditation Manager Leah Sayers attended the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission (VLEPSC) and the Virginia Law Enforcement Accreditation Coalition (VALEAC) Annual Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia, recently.
Hash sits on the Executive Board of Commissioners for the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission, one of 12 Commissioners that are made up of six Police Chiefs and six Sheriffs.
The Wytheville Police Department has been an Accredited Virginia Law Enforcement Agency since 2002 and has gone through six Accreditation recertifications without interruption. This is an accomplishment the Town of Wytheville and the Wytheville Police Department are very proud of. Out of over 400 Law Enforcement Agencies in Virginia, only 107 Law Enforcement Agencies in Virginia are Accredited.
Accreditation increased law enforcement’s ability to prevent and control crime through effective and efficient delivery of services to the community.
Accreditation enhances community understanding of the law enforcement agency and its role in the community as well as its goals and objectives. Citizen confidence in the policies and practices of the agency is increased.
Accreditation, along with the philosophy of community policing, commits the agency to a broad range of programs that benefit the public.
Accreditation creates a fourm in which police and citizens work together to control and prevent crime.
