The Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office recently earned its national accreditation from one of the nation’s most prestigious law enforcement evaluation agencies. The accreditation process included a comprehensive review of the sheriff’s office’s policies and practices.

According to The Washington Post:

It is the first time the sheriff’s office has received such a certification from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies in the agency’s 321-year history. The colonial governor of Maryland appointed the county’s first sheriff in 1696.

“We passed with a 100 percent compliance,” Chief Assistant Sheriff Darrin C. Palmer said last week, after the agency announced the certification was officially awarded in March. “These standards are considered best practices for where law enforcement is now. They run the full gambit of policies from use of force, to the way you handle complaints, to field operations.”

Though such accreditation is not mandatory, law enforcement agencies consider the certification a benchmark for law enforcement standards across the country.

Read the full article for more information.