The Suffolk Police Department’s Emergency Communications Center will soon be evaluated by a team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.

Specifically, CALEA will evaluate the Emergency Communications Center’s policies and procedures, management, operations and support services. The evaluation team will arrive Oct. 7.

“The CALEA accreditation process of our Emergency Communications Center has provided us with a vehicle to access and review our critical 911 center operations,” Police Chief Thomas Bennett stated in a news release. “It has provided guidance to ensure our center is meeting all industry protocols and standards.”

As part of the on-site assessment, agency personnel and members of the community can provide up to 10 minutes of comments during a public access telephone session from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 8 by calling 514-7974. Comments will be taken by the assessment team. The comments must address the department’s ability to comply with CALEA standards, which are available to view at the Suffolk Police Department by contacting Officer Shelly Koziana at 514-7959.

Anyone wanting to submit written comments about the Emergency Communication Center’s abilities to comply with the accreditation standards can send them to CALEA at 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155, or email calea@calea.org.

The Emergency Communications Center has to comply with about 205 standards, which have more than 300 bulleted substandards, in order to obtain accredited status.

Koziana is the CALEA accreditation manager for the department, and the assessment team is made up of public safety officials from similar but out-of-state agencies. They will review written materials, conduct interviews and visit offices and other sites where they can witness compliance.