The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department has received accreditation from the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission for the fourth consecutive time.

According to the Sheriff’s Department, the organization received its initial accreditation in January 2007, and reaccreditation certificates have been awarded every four years since. “We have a team that comes in and audits everything we’ve done for the last four years and makes sure we are operating on the standards of the Accreditation Commission of the Commonwealth,” Sheriff Thomas Jones told members of the Charlotte County Board of Supervisors July 10 during their monthly meeting.

There are close to 200 standards that a department must meet to be accredited. These include areas such as administration, operations, personnel and training.

The Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission was established in 1993 and tasked with creating an accreditation opportunity specific to Virginia law enforcement.

Department of Criminal Justice Services Program Manager Derrick Mayes also addressed the Board of Supervisors telling members how important having a sheriff department that was accredited was.

“Every time I go out to do these, people will ask what does that mean? Why do they do it? And my response is always — you want your school’s accredited, don’t you? You want your hospitals accredited, don’t you? Then why wouldn’t you want the people who spend 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that’s protecting you accredited?” he asked.

Mayes went on to say that the process is about being the best a department can be and about being open about it. “There are no hidden windows there are no hidden figures when you do accreditation because we go into everything,” Mayes explained. “When I can send a team in from anywhere in the state of Virginia, and they come out three days later with a smile on their face as they did with Charlotte County you know you are working with professionals, and you’ve got a group of professionals protecting you.”

“This is about the men and women of the department, and it shows what they do behind the scenes, not just what you may see them do daily,” said Sheriff Jones.