Residents praise, criticize Chattanooga police during public hearing for national re-accreditation

It was a mixed bag of both praise and criticism of Chattanooga Police Department by community members during a public meeting Wednesday night as the department seeks re-accreditation from a national police standards agency.

The Virginia-based Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies measures police agencies by using more than 400 standards to examine agency guidelines. The evaluation can help create better accountability. The department has been accredited through the commission for 12 years and has since earned the “Gold Standard” assessment.

Two assessors are in town this week to review department records to ensure the department’s policy and practices are in line with the commission’s standards. As part of their review, the organization invites the public to share comments via phone, mail, email or in person at a public hearing, during which comments were limited to four minutes.

The crowd was small Wednesday night, but almost everyone shared their thoughts, including members of the social justice group Concerned Citizens for Justice, who spoke about recent instances of police misconduct and brutality.