Samantha Chaffin

Editor-in-Chief

Public Safety at Idaho State University recently received accreditation from the Idaho Chiefs of Police Association (ICOPA) following an audit that took place in June, 2014.

According to a press release sent out by Idaho State University’s Department of Marketing and Communications, this accreditation is only held by 20 percent of all Idaho police departments and is a form of recognition for the university’s law enforcement standards.

The audit consisted of comparing Public Safety’s policies and procedures manual to the ICOPA standards and getting documented proof that those policies and procedures were being followed, according to ISU Director of Public Safety Steve Chatterton.

“It was an in-depth survey of all of the operations that we do,” said Chatterton.

The audit took two full days and was conducted by a former Blackfoot, Idaho Chief of Police, the current Buhl Idaho Chief of Police and the current St. Anthony, Idaho Chief of Police.

“The accreditation team found some things that we needed to work on but fortunately they were minor things and we were able to fix those before they finished the accreditation process,” said Chatterton. “So they completed the accreditation audit without finding any deficiencies for us. The issues they found were fairly simple so we could fix them pretty easily, and we did.”

According the press release, there are 94 standards of performance Public Safety had to meet or exceed to receive accreditation.

ISU Public Safety is the first campus safety unit in the state to receive this recognition, which is valid for three years according the the press release. After three years, Public Safety will be reviewed for ongoing accreditation.

“We’ve had the [ICOPA] accreditation standards probably for about 15 years,” said Chatterton. “And we’ve always tried to follow their standards in writing our policies and procedures.”

Chatterton said Public Safety also uses the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators [IACLEA] standards when writing procedures.

Chatterton added that IACLEA has a 40 hour officer training which Public Safety utilizes for the initial training of its officers.

In addition to those 40 hours, Public Safety officers undergo approximately 30 hours of additional training each year, according to Chatterton.

“It’s important to us that we’re doing the best that we can to provide a safe [campus] community,” said Chatterton. “And being accredited is a good yardstick to measure whether or not we’re doing a good job, and I think we are.”