Going the extra mile

Excellence in law enforcement does not happen by accident. It is the result of careful staffing, implementing high performance standards, regular training, and attention to detail all day, every day, no matter what.

The Goochland Sheriff’s Office has had an excellent reputation among law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth for many years. One of the first agencies to be accredited by the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission in 1999, the GCSO was up for its fifth reaccreditation in 2020, Sheriff Steven Creasey’s first year in office, the year of the Covid pandemic.

Derek Mays, Program Manager for the Virginia Center for Accreditation, Department of Criminal Justice Services ( https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/), explained the significance of the accreditation program to the Goochland Board of Supervisors at its July 6 meeting.

Derek Mays extols community support of the GCSO.

“Your sheriff’s office is very dynamic. They work very hard to serve your citizens,” Mays said. “I’ve been working with Goochland County for 12 years, when I was still a Lieutenant with Brunswick County, and they have the drive, the passion, to get things done. Becoming an accredited agency is not something you do here and there. It takes purpose. It takes a special group to do that, especially when you’ve got a brand-new sheriff. The first thing he did was to make it clear that Goochland was going to maintain its accredited status.”

Mays warmed to his subject with an evangelical zeal that, being from a family of preachers, he comes by naturally. “They went to work, and they worked long and hard. I remember the look on his (Creasey’s) face when I would come up here to help out and he asked me if they were going to make it.”

Mays recalled telling our sheriff that his agency would be reaccredited. “You’re doing all the right things all the right ways.” Mays faced the audience. “I’m turning around to everyone because it takes a community to get an agency accredited. We know that law enforcement is taking a terrible hit these days, but still you’ve got people who get up every day and put that uniform on. Anybody can wear clothes, but not everyone can wear a badge.”

Mays said that it takes a lot to wear a badge, especially given the adversity that law enforcement agencies face every day in these troubled times. The community must be a part of the effort, he said. In the Sheriff’s Office, everybody has to work together.

“That’s why it’s so important to do these things and to recognize how hard they work and how hard they try. Getting accredited is easy, keeping it is hard.”

Creasey and his agency, said Mays, passed with zero returns, which means, said Mays, that they put the work in. “This is more than just a presentation, it’s a process. For the Goochland County Sheriff’s Office, it’s a way of life. So, you have to give them love. You can give love even when you’re mad at them and still support them.”

Sheriff Creasey thanked Mays for his support during the accreditation process. The award, explained Creasey, belongs to the entire Goochland Sheriff’s Office team, who did the heavy lifting during reaccreditation, especially Captain Jason Baehr, First Seargeant Troy May, Seargent John Lancaster, and the community that supports them every day.

Go to https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/sites/dcjs.virginia.gov/files/publications/law-enforcement/vlepsc-process-and-procedures.pdf to view the standards and requirements of accreditation. Thanks to Sheriff Creasey and his team for their hard work and commitment to ensure the integrity of the GCSO as it serves our citizens.