The Patrick County Sheriff’s Office received its second re-accreditation award on Dec. 1 at the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission (VLEPSC) meeting held in Pulaski.
Sheriff Dan Smith and Accreditation Manager Amy Shelor accepted the award from Byron Clingenpeel with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
The sheriff’s office was initially accredited in 2014 and received its first re-accreditation award in 2018.
Smith said the accreditation program is designed to show the residents and all of those served by the specific agency that policies and procedures for day-to-day operations are crafted to demand the highest level of professionalism and service. Most importantly, it demands that proof be shown that those policies and procedures are being followed, he added.
The reaccreditation process is intense, Smith said, and added much time and effort is required from staff members to maintain the program. Fewer than one third of Virginia’s 340 law enforcement agencies are accredited.
“I am super-proud of the men and women of this office,” Smith said in a Friday news release. “They are committed to serving our citizens with professionalism and valor.”