Tiverton Police Department Receives First-Ever Accreditation

TIVERTON, RI — The Tiverton Police Department received its first-ever accreditation certification, the Rhode Island Police Accreditation Commission announced this week. The department achieved the distinction March 10.

According to the commission, police departments must meet 204 standards. Proof must be shown through call logs, arrest reports, incident reports, photographs, video/audio recordings, lesson plans, training plans, weapon qualification forms and summary reports. The process began in January, and generally takes several months to complete.

While most of the standards were met prior to the review process, several policies were outdated and were updated as part of the process, the commission reported.

Sgt. Marco Valzovano, the department's accreditation manager, said that the process uncovered "several deficiencies." Improvements included changes to personnel evaluations, uniformity of lesson plans, recruitment standards and timeliness of trainings.

"When I was promoted in November of 2019, the Tiverton Police Department had very limited understanding of the accreditation function," Valzovano said. "Thanks to these aforementioned processes, however, Tiverton Police gained a fundamental understanding of the accreditation process, what it meant, and how it would assist our future. These trainings were invaluable to our accreditation."

Now that the department officially earned accreditation, it must prepare to maintain it in a follow-up assessment in 2024.

"We applaud the members of the Tiverton Police Department, including Sergeant Valzovano, Chief Jones and all those involved in the accreditation process for their hard work reviewing and improving their practices and procedures," said Christine Crocker, the commission's executive director.