Contact:
Lieutenant Daniel Murray
(978) 658-7988 ext. 239
dmurray@wpd.org
May 8, 2023 – Chief Joseph Desmond is pleased to announce that a team of assessors from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission is scheduled to arrive on Monday May 22, 2023, to begin examining various aspects of the Wilmington Police Department’s policies and procedures, operations, and facilities.
Verification by the Assessment Team of our department ensures we meet the Commission’s standards and is part of a voluntary process to gain State Accreditation. State Accreditation is a self-initiated evaluation process by which police departments strive to meet and maintain standards that have been established for the profession, by the profession.
These carefully selected standards reflect critical areas of police management, operations, and technical support activities. They cover areas such as policy development, emergency response planning, training, communications, property, and evidence handling, use of force, vehicular pursuit, prisoner transportation, and holding facilities. The program not only sets standards for the law enforcement profession, but also for the delivery of police services to citizens of the commonwealth.
The Massachusetts Police Accreditation Program consists of 257 mandatory standards as well as 125 optional standards. To achieve accreditation status, the Wilmington Police Department must meet all applicable mandatory standards, as well as 60% of the optional standards. Achieving Accreditation is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. If achieved, the Re-Accreditation award will be granted for a period of three years.
Achieving Re-Accreditation is a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence. Anyone interested in learning more about this program is invited to contact Chief Joseph Desmond or WPD Accreditation Manager Lt. Daniel Murray.