Police Reform Resources

Community Police Advisory Team:

Burlington City Council appointed the Community Police Advisory Team in the spring of 2021.

The Burlington Police Department is committed to transparency with the community. In order to fulfill that commitment, we have shared here some of the many ways the department is working to be the best department it can be and to continue to improve. We have formed the Community Police Advisory Team (CPAT) as described above. We have also included the chief's response to various community inquiries regarding elements of police reform. Also included are examples of the response from some of the organizations that the department is associated with or other law enforcement organizations in North Carolina. If you have any questions, you may contact the admin assistant at (336) 229-3540.

Community Response from Burlington Police Department

The murder of George Floyd sparked a robust and meaningful conversation about reforming policing around the nation and world. The Burlington Police Department is committed to being a part of that conversation and stands with our community. As part of that commitment, the chief and the department responded to several community inquiries as they were received about various elements of police reform being discussed. You can view those questions and their responses below: 

• Chief Jeffrey Smythe letter and response to community questions  June 10, 2020
• #8Can'tWait Memo/Request and BPD Response  July 2, 2020
  
• Press Conference: Use of Force and Community Interaction hosted by "Actively Changing Together" (ACT) and Alamance County Law Enforcement Agencies   July 3, 2020
• Alamance Agents for Change Memo/Request with Clarification  June 21, 2020
• Burlington Police Department Response to Alamance Agents for Change Memo/Request  July 3, 2020

Accreditation for Police Departments:

Accreditation holds police departments to a set of standards and guidelines. Find out more about CALEA. The Burlington Police Department was first accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc, (CALEA) in April 1989. The agency has maintained accredited status, in good standing, for the last 27 years and was re-accredited with Advanced Gold Standard at the March 2017 conference.

There are nearly 18,000 eligible law enforcement agencies (local, state, and federal in the United States) that could choose to be accredited. For a variety of reasons, only 726, or approximately 4%, of those law enforcement agencies are currently accredited in the US. The Burlington Police Department meets 100% of CALEA  accreditation standards and earned the “Gold Standard in Public Safety.”

NCDOJ weighs in 

The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Education and Training Standards Commission and the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission recently published a press release about the work they are doing to provide high-quality training and standards for law enforcement officers in North Carolina. You can read the full press release here.

NACOLE:

Members of the City of Burlington Administration and City of Burlington Police Department joined NACOLE (National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement) to continue to learn and practice the leading methods in community engagement.