Village of Roscoe Police receives Tier One accreditation

At Tuesday's Village of Roscoe Board meeting, the Village's police department received the Illinois Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ILEAP) Tier One accreditation. Lou Jogmen, ​Highland Park Chief of Police, presented the award. He said that so far only 45 agencies in Illinois have been given this honor, and Roscoe would have received it in February if not for COVID. Jogmen is 1st Vice President of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

To receive Tier One accreditation, a police department has to prove it meets 67 separate ILEAP standards spanning administration, operations, personnel, and training. Tier Two accreditation, which the City of Rockford recently received, has 180 standards.

An assessment team from ILEAP made on-site visits to the Roscoe Police Department on October 19-20 to confirm they should receive this accreditation. The team was led by Lt. Jeff Hamer of the Macomb Police Department, along with Lt. Joel Givens and Officer Jeffrey Oberts of the Rockford Police Department. Hamer is the ILEAP Coordinator for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

Besides verifying that the Village of Roscoe Police Department met proper administrative standards, the assessment team also confirmed that all officers were following proper operations practices, such as proper use of force. For example, the ILEAP standards say "that officers shall use only the force necessary to effect lawful objectives," "that officers will adhere to the objective reasonableness standard... in use of force in responding to perceived threats," "that officers may use deadly force only under a reasonable belief that the action is in defense of human life, or in defense of any person in imminent danger or facing a significant threat of serious physical injury," and "that the discharge of warning shots is strongly discouraged." 

The standards also prescribe what procedures are allowed in pursuit of a fleeing felon, as well as "pursuit for misdemeanor traffic offenses, property crimes, non-forcible felonies, which pose no threat of force or serious harm."

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