The Champaign Police Department is seeking accreditation from the state. The assessment starts today. It's done by the Illinois Law Enforement Accreditation Program. The accreditation program looks into how police use force, its policies on dicipline and a broad range of other practices. There are almost 2-hundred standards the champaign police department has to meet to earn a top tier accreditation.
"Hopefully it'll make better communication, keep everybody on top of things and informed more. Everybody is accountable including municipal departments. Anything that will make them hold to a higher standard will be good, says Bill Wooley.
Utimately getting accreditation would just amount to being an honor for the department. Kankakee is the only police department that's been awarded Illinois Law Enforcement Accredidation Program since it began. The police department is inviting public comment for this process. People in the community question it's validity and it's timing. Also Chief Finney is on the board of chiefs that runs the accreditation program. At tuesday's city council meeting City Manager Steve Carter said the city had been working on accreditation for years.