Windermere PD accredited

The Windermere Police Department officially became an Accredited Police Agency by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation in February. Accreditation has been a long-term goal of the department since Chief Dave Ogden joined in 2013.

ANNABELLE SIKES

NEWS EDITOR

Last year was the biggest year the Windermere Police Department has had in quite some time.

The WPD moved into a new facility, had two major retirements, promoted from within the organization and even started succession planning.

It’s only March, but the agency already has accomplished one of its largest long-term goals: accreditation.

The WPD officially became an Accredited Police Agency by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation in February. Accreditation has been a goal of the department since Chief Dave Ogden joined the organization in 2013.

Ogden said it was a surreal moment standing in front of the accreditation board in St. Augustine.

“Blood, sweat and tears went into this,” he said. “Ten years flashed before my eyes. How hard we worked, everything we had to do, the challenges and tributes we faced and had to overcome. It was an extremely emotional and reflective time.”

WHY ACCREDITATION?

Despite what many may think, not a lot of agencies are accredited, and it is a tough and arduous process.

Locally, the Ocoee Police Department is accredited, although the Winter Garden and Oakland departments are not.

Accreditation is known as the highest standard of professionalism a department can receive as a law- enforcement agency.

Although there are a multitude of benefits of accreditation to the community, the chief and the officers, Ogden said his goal has always been to work with excellence and to try to maintain high standards.

“When you leave the bar set to your own personal threshold, it’s easy to lower it, but when you have an audit process where someone from the outside comes in and holds you accountable, it’s different,” he explained. “It’s accountability, but it’s also a great resource for us to utilize to get the best practices and understand what those best practices are. It also verifies and validates that we do the training in each of these standards. They ask you to not only say you can complete these tasks, but show them.”

To receive accreditation, departments must meet more than 230 standards in topics such as vehicle pursuits, traffic stops and handcuffs.

Accreditation Process

Ogden said accreditation was first thought about by the department in 1993, before he joined, although he knows the agency could never have been accredited before.

Ogden said he always knew accreditation was a goal he wanted to reach, but the department started embarking on the process more seriously about five years ago.

The first step was getting a couple of people completely certified in the accreditation process, such as Accreditation Manager Jennifer Treadwell and Sgt. Jeff Czwornog. Ogden said one of the biggest obstacles in the process was the agency’s facility. The department needed a new facility that was acceptable and updated, which it finally received in April 2022.

Within two months of the facilities being completed, Ogden signed a memorandum of understanding and applied for accreditation.

Although departments have three years to get accredited after they apply, Ogden said the time was not acceptable to him after waiting and working so hard and long for the accreditation.

The agency’s analysis started with a mock audit to see if the department was ready in September 2022.

The final assessment was done after the agency made a public announcement and the commission chose its assessors. The review lasted for several days.

“Our audit in December revealed that we didn’t need a single waiver, no exceptions had to be made and we were 100% in compliance,” Ogden said in an email to residents.

“The CFA Board of Commissioners gave us the highest comments for a new agency. Most notably, the commissioner praised the outstanding support of our community. This, by far, has been our most significant accomplishment in fulfilling an essential part of our written vision, to earn the trust of the community that we serve.”

Ogden said the process took everybody from the ground up and was about every officer.

He said clarity of vision is something that’s important for him as chief and helped in the process.

“I want to make sure that my officers know exactly what is expected