The Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office is gearing up for an inspection in December that, if successful, will lead to the law enforcement agency’s accreditation with a statewide professional organization.

A representative from the Oregon Accreditation Alliance, which counts the Newberg Police Department among its 19 accredited agencies, will visit McMinnville Dec. 15-16 for a first-hand look, then spend a couple of months reviewing the findings.

“I have high hopes that we will be accredited,” said Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree. “We’re quite a ways down the track on this, actually. It’s quite a long process.”

Being accredited by the OAA requires that an agency comply with standards governing everything from in-house bookkeeping to the protocol followed by officers who pull over speeders.

The McMinnville Police Department, previously accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, is also seeking OAA’s official blessing. However, it is not as far along in the process.

“We let it lapse,” said McMinnville’s support services manager, Nicole Heidt, of the earlier accreditation. “It was just too labor-intensive. We weren’t able to keep up with it.”

Currently, three sheriff’s offices and 16 police departments in Oregon are accredited with OAA. Four other sheriff’s offices and 18 other police departments are at some point in the process.

“That would mean Newberg, McMinnville and the sheriff’s office were all accredited, which would be great,” Crabtree said. “It’s something that all citizens in the county can be proud of.”

The process forces an agency to review everything it does, update all of its policies to comply with state statute and case law, then provide documentation that it’s doing what it says it is.

“Part of the process is not just making sure you have sound policy, but also making sure that you have proof that you’re following your policies,” Crabtree said.

Now that McMinnville is in its new headquarters, “we feel we’ve finally got our feet under us,” Heidt said. The staff is ready to go through another accreditation process, she said.

It should be simpler this time around, Heidt said. CALEA, a national organization, required departments to comply with 439 standards, whereas with the statewide group, the number is closer to 160. The sheriff’s office is looking at around 100 different areas, including those governing operation of the county jail.

One, to cite a prominent example, is the county’s policy on use of force — firearms, Tasers, and Asp sticks.

Crabtree said the department has gone through its policy carefully. He said it has records to show that when an incident occurs, the proper protocols are followed, establishing a clear paper trail.

Although there are legal and financial incentives for becoming accredited — it makes it more difficult to be sued, for example — Crabtree’s felt the main benefit would be ensuring everyone knows the rules and is following them.

“They see the value of policy,” he said. “They see why we need it, and why we follow it.”

“I think it just sends a message to everyone that we’re not sloughing off, and that we want to be a professional organization.”