TAMUT Police Department Earns Accreditation

Officer Ed Emelia, Officer Kristy Whisenhunt, UPD Chief Alex Serrano, and Texarkana Texas Police Chief Kevin Schutte

The Texas A&M University-Texarkana Police Department recently earned accreditation through the Texas Police Chief’s Association for meeting 168 Texas Law Enforcement Best Practices in the state’s Law Enforcement Recognition Program. The best practices were carefully developed by Texas law enforcement professionals to assist agencies in the efficient and effective delivery of service, the reduction of risk, and the protection of individual’s rights.

There are over 1900 law Enforcement agencies in Texas, and approximately 100 are certified in best practices. TAMUT is the second agency in Bowie County to be accredited. The Texarkana Texas Police Department was one of the first 10 agencies to be accredited in the state. The accreditation process took over 18 months to complete and required extensive work in areas like policies, procedures, training, facilities, and equipment. Every member of the University Police Department played a role in the accreditation process.

The University Police Department would like to recognize several institutions that helped in the accreditation process including The Texarkana Texas Police Department, West Texas A&M, Texas DPS Communications, Bowie County Jail administration and the Nacogdoches, Texas Police Department.