Dauphin County Chiefs of Police Association

Welcome to the Dauphin County Chiefs of Police Association. The association is a professional organization comprised of chief law-enforcement officers and Command staff level officers from the 19 municipal police agencies in Dauphin County, various county law enforcement offices, the local State Police barracks, and other agencies with law enforcement responsibilities within Dauphin County.

The Association was formed to secure personal and official relationships between law enforcement officers throughout the County; to secure unity of action in police matters; to elevate the standards of police departments by means of sponsoring education and training programs; to promote the use of humane efforts in the enforcement of the criminal laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and to otherwise promote crime prevention and highway safety.

Accreditation                                                                            

The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association introduced the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program to the Commonwealth in July 2001.  Since then, over 230 agencies have enrolled and 83 agencies have attained accredited status.

Accreditation is a progressive and time-proven way of helping institutions evaluate and improve their overall performance. The cornerstone of this strategy lies in the promulgation of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives. Participating administrators then conduct a thorough analysis to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet these objectives. When the procedures are in place, a team of independent professionals is assigned to verify that all applicable standards have been successfully implemented. The process culminates with a decision by an authoritative body that the institution is worthy of accreditation.

The Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was designed and developed by professional law enforcement executives to provide a reasonable and cost effective plan for the professionalization of law enforcement agencies within the Commonwealth. It is affordable, Pennsylvania specific, and user-friendly. The underlying philosophy of the program is to have a user-friendly undertaking for the departments that will result in a “success” oriented outcome.

The program is designed to be consistent and achievable for all types and sizes of law enforcement agencies within Pennsylvania. That perspective has been used in the development of the program and in its implementation. Therefore agencies with 10 personnel, 100, or a cadre of 1000, can and have successfully undertaken and completed the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association.

The following Dauphin County Police Departments have attained accredited status and are currently accredited:

Derry Township Police Department

Harrisburg Bureau of Police

Lower Paxton Township Police Department

Lower Swatara Township Department

Pennsylvania Capital Police Department

Pennsylvania State Police

Penbrook Borough Police Department

Susquehanna Township Police Department

Swatara Township Police Department