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Campus safety is an important priority not only for students and faculty and staff peace of mind but also for the university. For ����Թ�, on-campus safety has been of the highest distinction for more than three decades – and this is due to the ����Թ� State Police Department’s commitment to superior performance.  

The ����Թ� State Police Department received its tenth consecutive reaccreditation in November 2024 after consistently exceeding the standards set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), a third-party accreditation agency.       

Interim Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Chris Jenkins said that this recognition by the commission brings him great pride as these nationally accredited standards are voluntary.  

“We volunteer to be accredited,” Jenkins told ����Թ� State Today. “There’s no mandate that we must be, so for all the agencies that are accredited and desire this type of credibility in law enforcement, it provides consistency across the board.”

The provides police departments with guidelines and standards they must follow to receive recognition, something ����Թ� State police have done and continue to do.  

Jenkins, who has been with the ����Թ� State Police Department since 1995, said that out of the approximate 400 standards that need to be met for accreditation, the police department met every single one that applied to it.

The department’s devotion to the standards was highlighted in the 89-page assessment report. The commission specifically noted the department’s training, policing philosophy, and that ����Թ� State police "live and breathe the culture of ����Թ� and the CALEA accreditation.”

Mark Polatajko, Ph.D., senior vice president of finance and administration at ����Թ� State, said that this accomplishment further emphasizes the importance the university places on safety.  

“Public safety and the safety of our community, our students, faculty, staff and those that visit us is our number one responsibility as a university administration,” Polatajko said.  

There are numerous steps required to gain this recognition. Jenkins said representatives from the commission spent multiple days at the police department conducting on-site assessments of department standards and community interactions.  

Polatajko said the standards that need to be met are of the highest degree and play a large part in ����Թ� State’s dedication to public safety.  

“The CALEA accreditation is the pinnacle,” he said. “It’s the upper echelon in terms of third-party independent validation of how successful we are in undertaking our responsibilities.”

The initial accreditation took place in 1991, when the department successfully met nearly 400 of the standards, ranging from community engagement and crime prevention to fiscal management.  

With the first accreditation of the department 34 years ago, Jenkins said all officers at the ����Թ� State Police Department have not experienced a time when the department was not accredited, a unique factor that makes it stand out.  

“It is a part of our DNA,” Jenkins said. “It is a foundational professionalism that contributes to every aspect of the services and the policing that we do and provide.”  

Prior to the reaccreditation hearing on Nov. 15, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida, Jenkins took time to reflect on the department.

“The pride that I had in our agency and our members as I developed and prepared for the hearing, just the ability to take a few days to really reflect on who we are as a police department,” he said adding, “All the members, all of the employees here and all the ways that they contribute.”

Polatajko’s enthusiasm for the reaccreditation and the university’s commitment to excellence is evident.

“One of the points of pride that we have had here at the university is over the past several years ����Թ� has been repeatedly showcased as a top 25 safest college campuses in the United States,” he said.  

Jenkins said the ����Թ� State police department will continue to build on what it has for the past 34 years, keeping the agency progressive and innovative.  

“Being an accredited agency provides the framework for the way you manage and handle yourself which ultimately leads you to these two words: public trust,” Jenkins said. “Our commitment to accreditation enhances the trust that our community and the public has about who we are and what we do.”

Learn more about the ����Թ� Police Department.