The NJ Police Chief Magazine - Vol. 27, Number 1 | Page 12

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | July/August 2020
Conference Call: State Accrediting Organizations and
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General
By Capt. Harry J. Delgado, Ed.S (Ret.), NJSACOP Accreditation Program Director
On Thursday, July 30th I had an opportunity to participate in a conference call with a representative from the Office of
the US Attorney General: Jeff Favitta, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General; Rachel Bissex, Deputy Chief of Staff for
the Attorney General; Nick Trutanich, United States Attorney for Nevada; Christina Nolan, United States Attorney for
Vermont; and Phil Keith, Director of the US DOJ COPS Office.
I had the privilege to participate and represent our NJSACOP Law Enforcement Accreditation Program as a member of
AccredNet, a network of states with their own stand-alone accreditation programs. Incidentally, New Jersey has the
fastest growing accreditation program within AccredNet members.
Following an overview of President Trump’s Executive Order and implementation requirements, there was a
discussion of state accreditation organizations serving as independent certifying bodies on use-of-force policies and
agency compliance led by USAs Nick Trutanich and USA Christina Nolan. Amongst the points addressed, capacity to
certify agency compliance with tenets of use-of-force policies, capacity to maintain / report lists of agencies achieving
certification, and the potential start-up time to initiate certifying agencies. Finally, standards and considerations for
credentialing bodies to certify agencies’ policies on use of force was also discussed.
All along I have advocated for state accreditation organizations to be designated to serve as the certifying bodies.
During the meeting I stated that NJSACOP LEAP had the elements required to serve in this role already. Others did as
well which pleased these representatives, who seemed surprised by the strength and capacity of state accreditation
programs.
These federal representatives admitted that this is work in progress. However, this discussion involving state
accreditations agencies was very significant to them and very valuable to us. It educated them to the accountability
already established at the state level, through these accrediting bodies, to the very issues contained in the Executive
Order.
The last item on the agenda: after the Attorney General designates independent credentialing bodies, what would be
the anticipated benchmarks, e.g., when would the first agencies be certified?
To be continued…
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