Chikaming Township Police Department is the first state accredited department in Berrien County

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. – The Chikaming Township Police becoming the first state accredited department in Berrien County.

The voluntary program, allows police departments to follow a set of 108 standards set by the Michigan Law Enforcement Council on daily duties.

These daily duties are arrests, use of force, and discipline.

This process took the Chikaming Police over a year to complete. The goal was to get the department operating at its highest potential and continuing to build trust with residents according to the department.

“I’ve been doing this job 21 years now and I love the job. I love the career and the community deserves it. It is talking about raising the bar in law enforcement and it’s gaining and maintaining the public trust we have rock solid procedures in place which pretty much guided the performance of the department so the ultimate goal is to provide professional service to our community, the only way to do that is to have a good set of policies in place,” Chikaming Township Chief of Police, Todd Taylor.

Now that they are state accredited they will have to continue to provide proof each year they are keeping up with the council’s standards.