BARNEGAT – The Police Department won accreditation for the fourth time, showing that they follow the best practices for operation.
The Law Enforcement Accreditation came from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, which sets forth standards and practices that all police departments should follow.
The first time that Barnegat was accredited by CALEA was in 2011. It remains the first and only CALEA-accredited agency in Ocean County and one of nine in the state, officials said.
Police Chief Keith Germain and Lieutenant Jeff Ryan appeared remotely before the Commission for the agency compliance hearing and review recently. The Commissioners voted unanimously to award the department upon finding that Barnegat was in 100% compliance during the past four years.
“The women and men of this agency work tirelessly to ensure that we are always meeting or exceeding best practices and innovating to provide the best public safety service out there,” said Chief Germain. “It is both rewarding and reassuring to have a highly respected, diverse, and independent entity like CALEA conduct an exhaustive review of our agency and confirm that we’re performing at the highest levels both operationally and administratively.”
CALEA’s standards are extremely difficult to achieve, Germain said. You have to prove compliance with hundreds of professional standards and best practices. He commended his staff on their hard work, competence and professionalism. He gave special thanks to the accreditation team of Lt. Ryan and Ptl. Sarah Girgenti. He also praised both the community and Township Committee for their support of the agency.
“Time and time again during our assessment and review, our township was complimented for the outstanding partnership between the community and the agency,” he said. “It would be impossible for us to accomplish all that we do on a daily basis without the funding and support of the Township Committee who give us all of the resources we need to be a premier public safety agency.”
