No one showed up for the open forum Monday that the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and the University Police Department put together.
The public hearing was one of the requirements for the university's public safety department for reaccreditation. Two practitioners from CALEA, Paul Willingham and Tonya Bell, were at the meeting to listen to faculty, staff and students' questions and suggestions.
"This is a voluntary process. The department voluntarily enters in this contractual agreement with the commission," Willingham said. "They will have us come in from outside to review their policies and practices to see if they are applying the standards that the commission puts out."
Willingham said in the U.S. there are fewer than 600 accredited agencies and that UPD is one of only two Indiana universities under the accreditation program.
The low attendance was not because of lack of interest, but other factors, Willingham said.
"Participation level for public hearings just varies," he said. "We usually don't see big turnouts."
Gene Burton, director of public safety, said this wasn't unusual for an open forum.
"Three years ago when we went through the accreditation process [and] we had our initial hearing, we didn't have any students. We had a few faculty and staff that showed up," he said.
"We didn't have any expectations."
UPD was first accredited in 2007. They will receive results on their reaccrediation effort in 2011.
Willingham said there is still the opportunity for people wanting to call to make comments or ask questions of the commission. Christie Goddard represents the agency and can be reached at 800-368-3757.
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