The Williamstown Police Department (WPD) became certified by the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission (MPAC) on Feb. 17.
The certification verifies that the department has met 178 standards determined by the commission’s elected board, which is made up of police chiefs and other leaders in the public safety sector from throughout the state. Following certification, departments can opt to pursue accreditation, which requires them to meet an additional set of standards. WPD Accreditation Manager Charles Chandler said that the certification standards relate to some of the most significant or high-risk parts of police work, including handling of evidence, use of force, and motor vehicle pursuits.
As of Feb. 17, 138 out of roughly 374 other departments across the state had participated in MPAC’s program, which is completely voluntary, according to MPAC’s website.
Certification and accreditation are separate from the state statutes that allow police departments to operate, and the state also operates the separate Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which was established in 2025 to “improve policing and enhance public confidence in law,” according to its website.
WPD Chief Michael Ziemba believes that the process will help ensure the department continues to conduct high-quality policework. “I think the process has forced us to an even higher level of professionalism that cannot be allowed to slip as it is a continual process where we must continue to provide proof of standards and practices,” he wrote in an email to the Record.
Both Ziemba and Chandler emphasized that no major changes in the department’s policy resulted from the certification process. “In many cases, we had to revise some of our governing directives, our policies and procedures or our rules and regulations, so that we aligned more closely with what best practices were,” Chandler said in an interview with the Record.
Ziemba added that the majority of WPD’s existing policies were already up to MPAC standards. “The most noticeable MPAC addition was the need to create many more policies to meet their standards in addition to the ones we had,” he wrote. “I can tell you that when the MPAC assessors were evaluating our department they expressed that they were impressed with what they saw regarding practice, facility and reformed structure we had already undertaken.”
The certification is the culmination of a yearslong process, according to a department press release. Ziemba said he did not know exactly when the certification process began.
Chandler said that the department receives no monetary compensation for being certified, but there are benefits to participation in the program, including potentially lower insurance premiums and an additional level of credibility in the case of legal action against the department or one of its officers.
Ziemba confirmed that the department’s decision to seek certification and pursue future accreditation was in part due to a series of incidents in 2020 and 2021, including the discovery of a picture of Adolf Hitler in a WPD officer’s locker and the resignations of several members of the department following allegations of misconduct and workplace harassment. “We as a department had considered the idea of seeking accreditation before the events of 2020 and 2021, but that had not happened,” Ziemba wrote. “Directly after that time period, it was one of my top priorities to complete… So yes, that time period did play a role.”
Chandler sees the certification process as an important part of the response to community feedback. “Before I was here, there was some lack of trust with the community and the department and people felt that it wasn’t as accountable as it could be,” he said. “And one of the things that people asked for was some mechanism by which the department could be evaluated. And this process seemed to be a really good one.”
Certification is the first step in an optional two-step process for Massachusetts police departments to become accredited. The WPD is working towards becoming accredited, according to Chandler and Ziemba, and expects to finish this process in two to three years. Accreditation involves a set of 216 additional standards, 96 of which are mandatory. Depending on its number of staff, a department is required to meet a certain percentage of the optional standards. Chandler described the accreditation standards as relating to lower-risk administrative areas.
“For example, having a recruitment plan, having some way to review the demographic makeup of not only your target population but also your available workforce, and having some sort of plan to ensure that your recruitment is geared towards selecting prospective employees who reflect accurately the community you serve,” he said.
Chandler affirmed that the department’s policies relating to high-risk activities are where they need to be as they pursue the additional step of accreditation. “[The additional accreditation standards] are things that are important and that we’re working towards now, but it does not rise necessarily to the same level of making sure that your use of force and your pursuit policy is in place,” he wrote.
