
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1993                   TAG: 9308040152
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BLACKSBURG POLICE DEPARTMENT PLEASED WITH NEW ACCREDITATION

After pursuing accreditation for more than two years, the Blacksburg Police Department has been certified by an international organization that sets standards for law enforcement agencies.

To earn accreditation, the department met 923 standards of achievement to attain professional status currently granted to only about 300 departments in the United States and Canada.

"We're very pleased," said Chief Don Carey. "We worked hard to get it."

The recognition comes from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, which sent an assessment team to Blacksburg to review the department's policies and operation.

It was the second group of representatives from the commission to visit in less than year. The earlier team did not recommend the department for accreditation after a disagreement that Carey characterized as a bureaucratic foul-up.

To achieve accreditation, police departments had to meet affirmative-action standards requiring that police ranks mirror the town's population.

Because of Virginia Tech's internationally diverse student population, the Police Department was found to be deficient in minority employment.

Most of Virginia Tech's international students have visas that prohibit employment, which prevents the hiring of a representative number of minorities, Carey said.

That situation would have kept police departments in many college towns from earning accreditation, he said.

After first coming to Blacksburg, however, the commission reinterpreted its rules and sent a new team to review the department.

"They'd never seen anything like us before," Carey said of the commission. "It really bothered us, but we got it straightened out."

"Obviously, we're extremely proud," said Town Manager Ron Secrist of the department's certification.

Blacksburg's 70-member Police Department now becomes one of 31 in Virginia to earn the certification, which is in effect for five years.

"It's some benchmark for the public to measure us by. It builds confidence," Carey said.

by CNB