Hillsborough Police Withdraw from Accreditation Program

NOTE: This press release is being resent as the links to some of the attachments did not work in the original e-mail. The town apologizes for any inconvenience.

The Hillsborough Police Department has withdrawn from an accreditation program, giving up its accredited status.

The department would not have been ready for an on-site inspection in August by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies due to the poor state of the department’s documentation for reaccreditation. The inspection already had been delayed once, and CALEA’s deputy director indicated a second extension likely would not be granted.

The department also risked being stripped of its accredited status. An investigation by the town manager found some documents created to demonstrate compliance with CALEA standards had been backdated. CALEA’s deputy director noted this issue raised questions about the veracity of the department’s remaining CALEA records.

The Hillsborough Police Department became an accredited agency through CALEA in 2004 and was reaccredited in 2007. Reaccreditation takes place every three years. Hillsborough was one of 28 municipal police departments in the state accredited by the nonprofit credentialing organization, which provides law enforcement agencies the opportunity to voluntarily demonstrate they meet an established set of professional standards.

CALEA has approximately 460 standards that require proof of compliance. These standards include requiring a law enforcement agency to develop a comprehensive, uniform set of written directives. Hillsborough’s investigation — which began in late October and ended this spring — found a failure to maintain timely documentation with at least 16 standards, which were backdated to make it appear the paperwork was done according to schedule.

A staff review has indicated that almost all of the more than 400 files for the reaccreditation process need correction, are missing proofs or require adjustment to some existing policies. A large portion of the proofs have been discarded because they do not support the current CALEA standard or departmental policy.

Attached below are documents related to the Police Department's withdrawal from the CALEA Accreditation Program.