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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Rick Taylor |
  
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Taylor police standards bill moves toward Senate vote
HARRISBURG, Sept. 18 – The state Senate Judiciary Committee has voted out a bill sponsored by Rep. Rick Taylor, D-Montgomery, designed to assist local police departments in meeting professional standards for operation.
Taylor's bill (H.B. 2548) passed the House in July 196-1.
The measure would allow the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to create a grant program that would help the nonprofit Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association that accredits law enforcement agencies in the state to assist departments to meet the standards.
More than 260 law enforcement agencies have enrolled in the PCPA's Law Enforcement Accreditation Program begun in 2001. More than 50 have achieved accreditation.
With the association's guidance, local law enforcement administrators can evaluate their department's existing standards and procedures and determine what their agency needs to do to achieve the objectives for accreditation. The association can provide departments with independent law enforcement officials to monitor the progress of a department toward meeting specific standards and certifying the department when the goals have been met.
Taylor said the grant program would be a substantial help to the PCPA's accreditation program.
"Not only is accreditation a source of pride for a police department to have achieved, it assures the people the department serves that their agency is operating at the highest professional level, providing effective and efficient law enforcement," Taylor said. "It is also an assurance to individual officers that the highest possible standards for their personal safety and training are in place."
Taylor said he is hopeful that the Senate will pass his bill and send it to the governor for his signature before the General Assembly breaks for the Nov. 4 election.
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