Inspection performed on Toccoa Police Department for State Certification

Only 15% of all law enforcement agencies are state-certified by the Georgia Association Chiefs of Police, and the Toccoa Police Department hopes to join that small group. On Thursday, October 1, Lavonia Police Chief Shane Edmisten, the assessment team leader, conducted the initial inspection on the Toccoa Police Department to ensure that the implementation of policies and procedures is conceptually sound and operationally effective. 

“The Toccoa Police Department used to be state-certified, and lost their certification years ago. Chief Carlisle, since his come into the Toccoa Police Department, he’s worked very hard developing policies and practices to get the certification program restarted. This is the initial inspection. So, we will look at the files, determine if the state certification standards are met, and then, if all of the standards are met, the report that I will complete as team leader for the program will go to the State Certification Committee and they will vote on approval, and then it will go to the Joint Review Committee, and they will vote on approval, and if he is approved, they will become state-certified. This is not just Chief Carlisle’s program. This is the entire agency’s program. He has to have buy-in from everybody within the department. They have to work together. A very small percentage of the law enforcement agencies in the state are state-certified. This is like the standard for law enforcement in Georgia. This signifies professionalism and integrity.” 

Toccoa Police Chief Bruce Carlisle complimented his staff on their hard work preparing for the inspection.

“Well, this is such a big day. I can’t express what a tremendous job our staff has done, most especially Lynn Walton, our Certification Manager. Certification is the ultimate thing in the State of Georgia to prove that you are providing the most professional law enforcement services. This was one of my major goals when I came in as chief almost two years ago. The process, initially, you sign a contract with the Georgia Association Chiefs of Police for three years. So, in essence, the thinking is it will take three years to get all of our policies together, get all of your proofs of compliance together, and then have the assessments for final certification. We’ve done it in 18 months, and that’s a huge accomplishment.” 

State certification would be a significant achievement, adds Chief Carlisle.

“It just means so much to the community to have a law enforcement agency that has achieved this goal. Plus, it’s a savings to the City. There’s a 20% reduction in our liability insurance through the Georgia Municipal Association insurance for agencies that are state-certified. This is a big day for the police department and a big day for the citizens of Toccoa, because once again, this will be proven that we do what we say that we do on a daily basis. There’s about 149 standards in different areas that we have to prove compliance in, and I’m just really proud to be a part of it.”

The Toccoa Police Department should learn if it achieved state certification by the end of the year.