CRESTVIEW — To a standing ovation by city leaders and residents, Crestview Police Department officers who led the agency through the state’s vigorous accreditation process were commended by Mayor David Cadle and Chief Tony Taylor.
Cmdr. Andrew Schneider, accreditation manager, and Investigator Chaise Rawles, who helped implement the initiative, received commendations upon the department’s receipt of accreditation Oct. 26 by the Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission.
Speaking at the Crestview City Council’s Nov. 14 meeting, Cadle cited the police’s troubled period in the early 2010s. An investigation into allegations of corruption led to the dismissal of Taylor’s predecessor and members of the command staff, leading to the need for “some sort of professional accountability throughout the state of Florida,” Cadle said.
Cadle said upon hiring Taylor, his mandate to achieve accreditation “seemed like a lofty goal at the time because it’s one of the most difficult things to achieve.”
Taylor said during a planning meeting in 2013, Schneider immediately volunteered to manage the department’s accreditation process. Following the mock assessment that precedes the final onsite assessment, Schneider “put in a lot of sleepless nights,” Taylor said, to address concerns the assessors found.
“I’d come to work, he was there. I’d go home and he was still there,” Taylor said. “Andrew’s done a tremendous job.”
Rawles was right there assisting Schneider.
“Officer Rawles’ professionalism, commitment and dedication are exemplified by the result of these efforts,” Cadle stated in the commendation document.
“We went in four years from being flat on our backs to one of the top police agencies in the state,” Cadle said. “The leadership was provided by Chief Tony Taylor, who never gave up on this journey.”
By achieving accreditation, “We’re telling the community we’re as transparent as we can possibly be, and we’re holding ourselves to a higher standard than you’d expect us to be held to,” Taylor said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: ‘A tremendous job’