The Newport Police Department has been accredited through the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police
(KACP) since 1997 and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) since 1998.
These processes have brought about several positive changes to the department. One of the most important
is the way that we do business. This agency thrives on community relations and being people oriented. This
has changed the attitude of how citizens in the community and other peers in the law enforcement community
view the agency.
The accreditation process with its state and nationally accepted standards not only ensures that the agency
says it is doing something, but puts checks and balances in place to ensure that the agency is walking the talk.
It gives the agency the tools that it needs to effectively make decisions concerning the budget, manpower,
developing future plans, and many other areas. The agency has also received monetary benefits from the accreditation
process. The years prior to being accredited were riddled with lawsuits and high liability issues. The Kentucky Municipal
Risk Management Association (KMRMA) dropped the City from its insurance coverage due to these high claims. Since the
agency has been accredited KMRMA has taken the agency back into its insurance pool due to the decreased amount of lawsuits
and liability claims. Other benefits included increased officer pay, better equipment, increased training and more
accountability within the agency and community.
Professionalism begins with guidelines that state what is required to do the right thing. But it goes far beyond these
guidelines; it has to be a mentality that is instilled in the men and women who work for you to make the accreditation
process work. Without the support and hard dedicated work of these professionals the accreditation process would be
impossible to maintain. My hat goes off to the men and women of the Newport Police Department and the hard work that they
do every single day to maintain these high standards. These professional standards should be the norm for all police
agencies around the world and I highly recommend the accreditation process.
Robbie K. Hall
Chief of Police
