The fact that the Cheney Police Department lost its accreditation in 2018, during Mayor Grover’s tenure, and is only now starting to discuss re-accreditation five years later, is an outrage and a disgrace.
According to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, “the purpose of law enforcement agency accreditation is to professionalize the law enforcement industry by providing a review process for agencies to be certified as operating under industry best practices and standards.”
Given the severity and scope of misconduct identified and investigated within the department in the past few years, I’d say that it’s clear that the department has not been operating under best practices and standards for some time. Whether sexual harassment, which led to one officer being suspended without pay and another (who also engaged in several other forms of significant misconduct) losing his law enforcement credentials, or just plain incompetence and failure to do their duty, Cheney deserves better from those who are sworn to serve and protect.
At a recent community forum, interim police chief Rick Beghtol unveiled a new motto for the department: honesty, integrity, and compassion. The people of Cheney deserve a police department that actually embodies and exemplifies these values. We deserve a department staffed by officers who are effective and who do not engage in misconduct. We deserve a department that has been independently verified and found to meet objective standards of best practice. We deserve an accredited police department.
Shame on the city’s leadership for failing to deliver.
Thank you!
Corinna Donnerberg
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