A second accreditation has been awarded to Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Police Services and Public Safety Department

The Department of Police Services and Public Safety at Southwest Tennessee Community College has recently been recognized through the renewal of its accreditation from the Tennessee Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (or TLEA). The accreditation is the second time the department has successfully been accredited since its initial accreditation in 2021 by the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police (or TACP).

The aim of the TLEA is to improve the skills of law enforcement organizations in Tennessee by raising the standard of the services those organizations deliver to the residents of the state. TACP instituted the program which advocates for the goal of constantly improving the skills and services of law enforcement as well as emergency communications services. It does this by implementing professional goalposts for procedures, policies, management, and employee accountability.

Back in May, assessors from TLEA made a full assessment of the documentation and evidence of the Police Services in order to gauge how well it adhered to the aforementioned best practices and standards. After the first stage, which was a remote evaluation, the assessors moved on to an on site evaluation near the end of May. Then, in early June, Ernest A. Greenleaf, Sr., who serves as Southwest Tennessee’s Executive Director of Police Services and Risk Management, as well as the accreditation team, met with the TLEA professional standards committee for review. Once the review was completed the department was found to be compliant and was awarded its second accreditation.

In an article posted on Southwest Tennessee’s website Greenleaf was quoted about the accreditation, stating that he is proud of the hard work his team did in order to earn it, saying,  “Receiving this accreditation award is a way to ensure that we are traveling the right path to maintain excellence. I want to thank my staff for their hard work. I also wish to thank President Tracy D. Hall and Chief of Administrative Services and Information Systems, Michael D. Boyd, for their support in providing the resources needed for our department’s continued success.”

In addition to Greenleaf, other Southwest Tennessee team members who worked on the accreditation project were Officers Donald Drewry and Terry Pirtle, Administrative Assistant Lisa Brown, and Police Services and Public Safety Associate Director John E. Mitchell.

More information about Southwest Tennessee Community College can be found at the school’s website.