BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Park tours, paperwork, interviews and a public meeting are part of an intensive four-day re-accreditation Hamilton County's park rangers face next month.
"It's a lot of work," said Ranger Lt. Greg Smith.
But it's worth it, he said, for the unit that was the first county park police agency to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
Officially known as the Hamilton County Park District Rangers, the unit was accredited three years ago. This is its first re-accreditation. "They require you're re-assessed every three years to make sure you're still complying with the standards," said Lt. Smith. "This time around they want you to prove that you do that. What it does for us as a department is it keeps us on top of these nationally accredited standards. That keeps us on our toes."
A team of assessors from the Fairfax, Va.-based agency will visit the park district and its parks May 16 and spend four days interviewing rangers and reviewing documents and manuals. They also will conduct a public information session where the community is invited to speak.
The session will be 7 p.m. May 18 at Mill Race Lodge, 1515 W. Sharon Road, Forest Park. The assessors represent police agencies from Manchester, N.H.; Palatine, Ill.; and Fort Wayne, Ind.
The unit is among 479 law enforcement agencies in the country to be accredited.
Accreditation often brings with it cuts in liability insurance costs. Law enforcement officials say it helps in recruitment of police officers, improves morale, inspires confidence from the public and keeps officers up to date on law enforcement procedures. "Our selection process is a lot more intense now," said Lt. Smith. "We certainly weed out candidates a lot more readily." "The process is a reaffirmation of compliance with standards," said Ted LeMay, program manager for CALEA. "It's to make sure the agency is following the standards."
Mr. LeMay said about 95 percent of the agencies that come up for re-accreditation go through with it. About 18 percent of all law enforcement officers in the country have been involved in the CALEA process.
Agencies that have been accredited include some as small as the seven members of the force in Lindsborg, Kan., to the more than 4,000 with the Pennsylvania State Police.
In southwest Ohio, accredited agencies include the Cincinnati Police Division, Hamilton Police Department, Amberley Village police, Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport police, Clermont County Sheriff's Department, Evendale police, Harrison police, Indian Hill rangers, and Lebanon and Milford police.
All law enforcement agencies can be accredited, said Mr. LeMay. CALEA's roster of accredited agencies include federal law enforcement, housing authority police and university police agencies.
"It keeps you on the forefront of law enforcement, plus it helps to limit your liabilities. Those are the two big things that you're looking for," said Lt. Smith.
