Ready to protect, proud to serve

(ltr) Mike East, Troy May, Todd Clingenpeel, Steven Creasey, Jason Behr, Board Chair Charlie Vaughters, and John Lancaster. (Goochland County photo)

Modern law enforcement is a lot more complicated than slapping a badge and rounding up the usual suspects.

The Goochland County Sheriff’s Office is our primary law enforcement agency, proving a wide array of public safety services for the county. These include patrol, investigations, community outreach and education, the 911 call center, security of three courtrooms, movement of prisoners, and enforcement of court orders.

Deputies enforce all criminal and traffic laws, patrol all 284 square miles of Goochland 24/7/365, and investigate more than 95 percent of criminal complaints in the county.

The reputation for excellence that the GCSO has in the law enforcement community does not happen by accident.

Since 1999, under the direction of former Sheriff James L. Agnew, the GCSO, became one of the first agencies to earn accreditation from the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Division (https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/law-enforcement/virginia-law-enforcement-professional-standards-commission)

On July 2, Todd Clingenpeel, Program Manager for the DCJS Virgina Center for Accreditation, on behalf of Secretary of the Commonwealth Terrance Cole and DCJS Director Jackson Miller, joined by accreditation manager Taylor Fisher and DCJS Division Director Harvey Powers to present GCSO with its seventh accreditation.

Clingenpeel said that the process began on March 25 when DCJS sent three highly trained assessors to Goochland to evaluate every aspect of the GCSO. The team went into files, interviewed citizens, employees, looking at 192 specific standards and 570 items to meet DCJS criteria. They passed with flying colors. Since 1999, the GCSO has undergone this rigorous examination seven times and come out with a glowing response.

The team, said Clingenpeel, reported that the GCSO was professional, highly knowledgeable, and excellent representatives of the county and community. They also said that there is a strong commitment throughout the agency to excellence, that it is a well led, exemplary organization.

According to Clingenpeel, the lead assessor, who has been with the program since its start, said that this year’s GCSO assessment was the finest she had ever seen.

Goochland Sheriff Steven Ned Creasey thanked Clingenpeel and DCJS for the award and kind words.

“This is not my award, this is not the Goochland County Sheriff’s award, this is the Goochland County award because we could not do this if we did not have the support of the citizens of Goochland and the Commonwealth. Without the support of this Board (of supervisors) and the prior board, we could not be where we are today. Even though I’m sometimes the face of the organization, the heavy lifters are the accreditation team, the deputies, and dispatchers. They’re the ones who deserve the credit for doing what they do each and every day.”

Creasey thanked the accreditation team comprised of Mike East, Troy May, Jason Baehr, and John Lancaster for their hard work on the project.

The GCSO is an integral part of what makes Goochland special, and safe. To learn more about GCSO go to https://www.goochlandsheriff.com/ Be sure to watch the video under the “about” tab.

Plan to attend National Night Out on the Goochland Courthouse green on Tuesday, August 6 beginning at 6 p.m. to meet the GCSO and other community organizations.