Harriman Police gain accreditation

HARRIMAN — The Harriman Village Police Department has attained accreditation by the New York State Commission on Police Accreditation, a professional distinction that only 20 percent of all police departments in New York State achieve.

"The Village Board has wanted the department to get accredited for quite some time,” Harriman Police Chief Raymond Culver said in an e-mail exchange with The Photo News, “plus the police departments that surround us and whom we work with the most (Monroe Village and Town of Woodbury) are accredited.”

To earn accreditation, 135 standards have to be met. The process takes three days; accreditation is reviewed every five years.

“We basically have a policy for almost everything that we do,” Culver added. “Those policies are usually the ‘best practices’ that are recommended by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Association of District Attorneys.”

These policies, the chief said, start with the hiring and screening of police officers, including qualifications, background, physical, psychological screening and training, and continue on mandating minimum training, equipment and adherence to all policies.

“This has to be proven yearly,” Culver said. “We hire educated professional police officers. Small does not mean incompetent or unprofessional.”

The department has 10 officers.