OSU Police Department earns re-accreditation

Jim Mitchell
Communication Services
Oklahoma State University
(405) 744-6260
08/23/05

(left to right) Commissioners Paul Kroutter and Jim Spearman, Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, present certificate of re-accreditation to Chief Michael Robinson with the OSU Police Department. The OSU department is one of only 10 statewide (including Stillwater P.D.) to be accredited.

Oklahoma State University’s Police Department is leading the way in Oklahoma by undergoing a tough assessment and accreditation process every three years. The department recently earned its second re-accreditation from the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), according to OSU Police Chief Michael Robinson.

“We believe in accountability and this assessment is a good way to ensure that we are always operating in a professional manner,” says Robinson. “Accreditation has been well-established in other fields such as medicine and education for many years, and we’re glad to be among those who are pioneering this effort in our own field.”

OSU’s Police Department was the first in the state to become accredited in 1998, the first year the OACP offered the program. Robinson, who served as the former chief of police at the Village Police Department, landed accreditation for it not long after OSU lead the way. Robinson says there are now ten accredited law enforcement agencies statewide, including the Stillwater Police Department.

Robinson recently accepted a plaque on behalf of his department that recognized this latest re-accreditation. The plaque was presented by OACP accreditation commissioners Jim Spearman of Norman and Paul Kroutter of Broken Arrow.

In order to be approved for the three-year re-accreditation, each law enforcement agency is assessed on the basis of more than 190 professional standards in areas that include personnel, operations and administration, according to Robinson. “From verifying constitutional compliance in matters such as police pursuits and evidence handling to direct questioning of officers while on patrol to assess their working knowledge of standards and directives, it’s an extensive process.”

Each department is also required to have written directives on file addressing all standards as well as documentation proving that they are actually operating within the guidelines established by those written directives.

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