Clinton Township Police Department celebrates accreditation with ceremony

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — The Clinton Township Police Department celebrated earning accreditation at an Oct. 9 ceremony at the department’s headquarters.

Achieving accreditation was a two-year process, according to the department’s accreditation manager, Clinton Township Police Capt. Preston Susalla. Now that the department is certified, it will need to reaffirm its accreditation every three years. The department was officially certified Sept. 11, prior to the ceremony. Susalla stressed that it was a team effort.

“It was a lot of work, but it was well worth it,” Susalla said.

The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police makes the determination for accreditation. MACP Executive Director Robert Stevenson said Clinton Township is the 88th accredited police agency out of the about 600 law enforcement departments in the state.

“To put that in a different perspective, your police agency has been able to do what 80% of the other police agencies in the state of Michigan have not yet obtained,” Stevenson said.

MACP Deputy Director Ronald Wiles said the department had to meet 128 standards of compliance to reach accredited status.

“It’s one thing to say you’re compliant, but our program forces agencies to show they’re compliant through these things we call proofs,” Wiles said.

The process includes on-site review by MACP and input from the public about the department. Departments seeking accreditation then must answer questions in front of a commission about the accreditation process.

“In three years, I’m going to send another team of assessors up to the Clinton Township Police Department,” Wiles said. “They’re going to do another top-to-bottom review of the agency.”

MACP President Bryan Ergang presented Clinton Township Police Chief Dina Caringi with a certificate of accreditation at the ceremony. Caringi thanked the Police Department and the township for making the achievement possible, taking the department from “good to great.”

“We as an administration looked and said this is something that can help us commit to our professionalism and our trust in the community,” Caringi said.

“I know it’s going to continue for many years to come,” Clinton Township Supervisor Bob Cannon said. “The hardest part was the first time.”