Tewksbury PD lands highly sought certification for first time

A pair of area police departments announced they have achieved state certification from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission, including the Tewksbury Police, which earned accreditation for the first time in the department’s history.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment for the Tewksbury Police Department, and I am proud of everyone in the department who contributed,” Tewksbury Police Chief Ryan Columbus said. “We now intend to maintain accreditation and the high standards it requires us to meet. This accomplishment will go a long way to ensuring the continued professionalism and competency of law enforcement, and reinforcing the trust we have with our community.”

MPAC notified the Tewksbury Police on Wednesday about the accreditation, the gold standard in police accountability.

The Chelmsford Police Department was also advised by MPAC on Wednesday that they had earned reaccreditation. The department was first accredited in 2012, and must renew its accreditation every three years.

“We are proud to have earned re-accreditation from MPAC, which shows that the Chelmsford Police Department continues to meet the highest standards in law enforcement in Massachusetts,” Police Chief Colin Spence said. “I would like to thank all police department employees for their constant support of our department’s important initiatives. I also want to thank Lt. Jason Hanscom and Administrative Assistant Melissa Nolan for leading our efforts to earn reaccreditation.”

Accreditation is a self-initiated, lengthy, and comprehensive evaluation process. Participating departments complete an internal self-review and an external assessment by MPAC experts.

The process is a voluntary evaluation by which departments strive to meet and maintain the top standards of law enforcement. It is considered the best measure for a police department to compare itself against the established best practices around the country and region.

MPAC assessed the Tewksbury Police on 128 mandatory standards and 120 optional standards. The department met all mandatory standards and 74 optional standards.

The Chelmsford Police were assessed by MPAC on 256 mandatory standards and 120 optional standards, and met all mandatory standards and 79 of the optional standards.

The standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations and technical support activities. They cover areas such as jurisdiction and mutual aid, collection and preservation of evidence, communications, work conditions, crime analysis, community involvement, financial management, internal affairs, juvenile operations, patrol administration, public information, records, training, traffic, drug enforcement and victim/witness assistance.

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