The Rhode Island city of Bristol is now facing a crisis as their police department has lost two crucial law enforcement accreditations.
The Bristol Police Department is missing two accreditations- the state level Rhode Island Police Accreditation Commission (RIPAC) and the nationally-recognized Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
While the agency was once CALEA-stamped starting in 2007, BPD withdrew in 2018 and then re-attempted to enter the program.
Since then, however, the agency has been unable to get re-CALEA certified and lost RIPAC certification soon after.
According to BPD Chief Josue Canario, the requirements required to maintain its standard was daunting for the 40-man police department.
However, Canario didn’t bother to let anyone else in the city government know about the state-level loss of accreditation.
“I was surprised,” said Town Administrator Steven Contente told NBC10.
While accreditations look good, they are also pretty expensive to get and maintain. A CALEA accreditation for a Bristol PD-sized agency runs around $11,450, with $4,065 fees recurring annually.
Around 25 Rhode Island agencies are RIPAC accredited.
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