Editorial: Accreditation could be key to fixing police database

There is no situation that cannot be improved with accountability.

In recent years, how many trusted or beloved institutions have been rocked by the knowledge that such trust and love was betrayed? Children have been abused by coaches, teachers, even their own parents. Grand juries have uncovered not only sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses but deliberate actions to conceal the reports. Investigations of nursing homes have turned up neglect, and state policies have allowed those same homes to become unwitting repositories for Megan’s Law offenders.

From the top down, institutions, leaders, caregivers and public servants need to be held accountable. It isn’t just for the safety of the vulnerable but for the protection of the entities, too.

A Spotlight PA panel discussion involving state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, Penn State Dickinson Law professor Raff Donelson and Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Chief David Steffen went over police accountability and the state’s police hiring database.

It ended up with some unanimity between government, academia and law enforcement. They agreed accountability improves safety.

State lawmakers passed legislation in 2020 that established a police hiring database. A Spotlight PA investigation uncovered that Act 57, the bipartisan-supported law behind the database, didn’t really have the teeth to make the database function the way it was intended. That is a failing that needs to be corrected to benefit the communities and the police.

Another is accreditation. Like hospitals or museums, police agencies can be accredited by organizations that review and monitor them for best practices. Just over 10% of Pennsylvania’s police agencies are accredited, although that is on the rise.

“You need to have that independent, third-party look to assure that you’re adhering to those things that you say you’re doing and making certain that that happens,” Steffen said.

To hear that from a police officer is positive and refutes the assumption that attempts to keep agencies accountable is about hatred of law enforcement.

The City of Pittsburgh requires the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium to be accredited. Universities get accreditation to maintain a standard that speaks to their expertise — and so that students can qualify for federal financial aid. Accreditation isn’t about punishment but rather commitment and quality.

With that in mind, maybe the best way to get more police agencies to participate in the database — reporting substantive discipline whether an officer leaves the department or not — is to work with accreditors to identify participation as a best practice and for the state to require police departments to be accredited.