Comanche Nation Police Department Receives Accreditation
The Comanche Nation Police Department has been accredited through the state of Oklahoma for the third consecutive time, making it the 12th year the department has held the title.
Lt. William Hill is the training and accreditation manager for the Comanche Nation Police Department. He makes sure all of the policies and procedures are up to date, as well as training.
He said that to be accredited; there are 178 tasks the department has to meet.
“It's a process, so usually how it works is you start with a certified agency and then you become accredited; it can take up to four years,” Hill said. “And so, our accreditation standard is we have every four years we go through a new accreditation.”
He said they are a part of the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police, which manages the state’s police departments. The association will send out standards for the department to meet.
“We'll have agencies from all over the state come in and do our accreditation,” Hill said. “They go through all our policies and standards and make sure that we can show, and we have examples and stuff and show not only do we have it by policy, but we're also doing it in the department.”
He said it’s essential for the police department to be accredited because CNPD is the only tribal police department that’s fully accredited. According to Hill, some are certified; however, only about 40 agencies are accredited.
“Certification is, you only meet 40 standards; there’s only…I believe…40 standards, but it's a lot less. It's like half of the 178,” Hill said. “When you go to 178, it's a full deep dive that you're doing everything. You have your dispatch doing the correct thing. They have the right policies in place. They have the right procedures. They're doing everything correctly. Our men and women on the road, they have the right equipment to serve our community, which our community is spread out.”
The department covers eight counties and serves the casinos and roadways. Having the accreditation also helps keep the citizens of the Comanche Nation safe.
“When we have an officer down on the road, that means that person is fully trained and able to do everything they need to for the community.
Hill said officers are required to have over 40 hours a year of training.
“And there's mandated things like active shooter training is mandated, sexual assault training is mandated,” he said. “So that's all mandated by the state that we maintain.”
Hill said networking with other agencies is his favorite part of the process.
“See how they do things, get the best practices out there for our officers to do,” he said. “Like I said, it's all about the community. That's what we're here for.”
Chief of Police Ron Niedo has worked with the police department for 37 years. He said the police department works for the Comanche Nation Tribal Members, and the accreditation is good for the force.
“It makes me feel that our Comanche Nation Police Department and the employees that work within it are professionals and well-trained,” Niedo said. “And that each police officer, if they have an issue, that there's a policy and procedure that they can go to and address it.”
He said former Police Chief Griffin had the foresight to initiate the accreditation.
“Because he was a member of the Oklahoma Chief of Police's board at that particular time. And he felt that our department is more than qualified to be accredited by the state of Oklahoma,” Niedo said. “So, I have to give him kudos for that. And we picked up the gauntlet and we are continuing to be accredited by the state of Oklahoma. Which I feel is awesome.
He currently sits on the board, which sets a precedent for new policies.
“When the president signed the active shooter deal, President Trump did, so that two policies come down,” Hill said. “And so the board goes over it and says how they're going to submit them out to all the police departments. And what standards we have to meet off of that. That's what their job is. And it's only for the chief of police. Now if he can't make it to the meeting, I'll go to the meeting for him.”
Their following accreditation will be in four years.
