During the Spring Lake Heights Council meeting on August 10, 2020 Police Chief Edward W. Gunnell was presented with a certificate of Accreditation by New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police (NJSACOP) Accreditation Program Director Harry J. Delgado.One of Chief Gunnell’s first goals when he became Chief in January 2019 was to gain Accreditation statues. Chief Gunnell wanted objective evidence of his agency’s commitment to excellence in leadership, resource management and service delivery. Captain Robert Shafer was named Accreditation Manager and began the process in February 2019.
The certification was conducted by an independent reviewing authority which carefully measured against an established set of state and national standards. The Spring Lake Heights Police Department has met or exceeded accepted practices in the field of law enforcement.
During Mr. Delgado’s remarks he noted that only 43% of Police Departments earn Accredited status and that the Spring Lake Heights Police Department is in a category of less then 10% of agencies that achieve accreditation the first time citing the final report made by NJSACOP which noted that there were no corrective actions needed. Delgado said, “In a very fundamental way that is like getting an A+ on a final exam and puts them in a very elite group”. Delgado also stated that “in the opinion of the assessment team, the Spring Lake Heights Police Department is a highly professional and committed agency which exemplifies all of the tenets of Law Enforcement Accreditation”.
