Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb2016

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engage the community.
“We were looking for a way to encourage more
interaction between officers and the community,” said
Googe. “This gives our citizens more access to officers
from different bureaus.”
The department is encouraging citizens to ask
questions and get to know the officers who serve the
community. It’s this kind of outreach that helped the
department shine during their evaluation by CALEA,
according to Googe, who supervised the work that went
along with submitting the application.
To receive the Gold Standard accreditation status, the
Mount Pleasant Police Department needed to comply
with 484 standards that focus on all facets of the agency,
from the examination of their evidence collection to
their use of force. Googe, who began his role as the
accreditation manager in 2014, worked for a year on
collecting and submitting proof the department had met
all the necessary standards.
“Our process is so successful because of the
commitment given from everyone in our organization.
Line level officers up through our command staff believe
in this endeavor,” said Police Chief Carl Ritchie. “Having
our process examined by an outside agency shows that we
are in pursuit of accountability and transparency.”
The accreditation puts the department in a small
club, since only 5 percent of agencies in the country are
accredited, according to Googe.
“Police accreditation is very important to our town
and residents. It is the gold standard in public safety by
which we measure ourselves. It is a voluntary, grueling
process that takes a look at all our entire operation
with a fine-toothed comb. It holds us accountable to
ourselves and to the community we serve,” said Mount
Pleasant Mayor Linda Page. “The Police Department
has been accredited for nearly a quarter of a century
now, an amazing span of time. I believe that national
accreditation is the true measure of excellence.”
The accreditation lasts for three years, and Googe is
already working on the next one.
“It’s a full-time job. Not a day goes by that I don’t do
something related to our accreditation,” he said. “There’s
no doubt about it. It was hard. I would come in in the
mornings and blink, and then it was the afternoon and
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