Brittany Kelley
KYLE — After working diligently for two years, the Hays County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office was recently recognized with the Texas Police Chiefs Association accreditation.
According to Constable John Ellen, the accreditation is a program that consists of 174 best practices that reduces risk and liability. An example of a best practice is use of force, said Ellen. To prepare for this, and each of the other qualifications, staff was required to enlist in specific training and document any time it was used in a proof of compliance.
The office also has to turn in annual reports to show that these practices continued long after they were implemented.
Additionally, the entirety of the 12 chapter — each with up to 23 sections — general orders manual had to be rewritten, said Ellen.
The officers had to complete these requirements, while working their regular jobs, so a challenge was having enough people and enough time, he said. Despite this, he noted that the office already had a high standard, so instead of changing a lot, it was more so focused on documenting the practices they had already implemented.
Following the completion of these tasks, an on-site visit was done by the TPCA. This includes two law enforcement professionals that spend several days with the office, going through policies and procedures, completing ride-alongs and more. Ellen described the process as “grueling,” though it was actually completed in less hours than other offices, he bragged.
“[The initial training] took us a little bit over two years and, according to the assessors that came out, that’s about normal for an agency our size. However, I guess it usually takes them around 16 hours to do a [visit at] an agency of our size and it took them between seven to eight to do ours. They said that they hadn't seen one that was that well put together and that well-documented. So, that was a huge compliment,” said the constable.
The achievements didn’t stop at the compliment and the accreditation itself, Ellen shared, as he discovered that out of the 1,000 constable’s offices in the state, Hays County's Precinct 5 was only the fifth to achieve the award.
“It’s a huge step forward for us; it’s a huge step forward for the county. It’s something that, I hope, will be the standard for our county. One of the things I would like to see is all five of our constable’s offices and the sheriff’s office be accredited agencies,” said Ellen.
The accreditation is more than just a title, as it provides credibility to the office, while setting up a high-standard roadmap for law enforcement to abide by. According to the constable, the office will have to undergo re-accreditation in four years.
“This precinct has always worked really, really hard to have high standards and provide the best law enforcement service we possibly can and this is just a written indication of standards by which we operate … This victory goes to the people who work here. It’s not my leadership; it’s the quality of people we have serving our citizens that is really the reason we were able to do this,” concluded Ellen.
The Precinct 5 Constable’s Office was recognized by the Hays County Commissioners Court during its June 23 meeting.
To learn more about the accreditation, visit www.texaspolicechiefs.org/accreditation.
