Las Cruces police again earn accreditation from statewide program

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - For the third time in a row, the Las Cruces Police Department has earned accreditation from the New Mexico Law Enforcement Professional Standards Council.

"The primary goal is to maintain the standards that we've achieved and not let it slip," Police Chief Patrick Gallagher told ABC-7 on Monday.

The Las Cruces Police Department continues to be the largest law enforcement agency in the state to have the full accreditation from the Professional Standards Council, according to the department.

"It's a check under the hood to make sure everything's running properly, but we're not the ones checking," Chief Gallagher explained. "It's an outside entity. They come in, we tell them our policies and our procedures. This is the way that we're operating. They actually pop up the hood and look."

Gallagher told ABC-7 that the department was recognized for holding the force to professional standards.

He said the program did make a recommendation for the police department to better catalogue their evidence with new software.

"They did point out several things that we could improve on," Chief Gallagher said, adding, "Not that we're doing anything wrong, but there's a better way of doing it."

Here is an overview of the accreditation program from the New Mexico Municipal League.