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08/07/2024 08:30 AMState statute through Connecticut's police accountability legislation requires that all law enforcement agencies in the state attain law enforcement accreditation by the end of 2026. In doing so, local agencies like the East Haven Police Department (EHPD) must demonstrate that they are upholding the highest standards of public safety services for the community members which it protects and serves.
The facilitation of this process requires someone to oversee all sorts of information in order to prove to state and independent organizations that those standards are being met. In East Haven, that person is Mary Sparago.
Mary currently serves as the EHPD’s accreditation manager—a fitting role given her educational background and previous experience in policy and compliance.
Mary recently received her master's degree in national security from the University of New Haven. With this addition to her résumé, Mary brought her knowledge in the areas of compliance, policy, and auditing to the EHPD, bolstering the role of the accreditation manager.
“I was really interested in getting involved in all sorts of policy and legislation on either the local level or the national level,” says Mary. “I did an internship with the U.S. Senate, and then from there, I was interested in getting more involved in local policy.”
Mary remembers that her internship with the Senate, which was done at an office in Hartford, was dominated by phone calls from constituents and filled with stress which began as soon as the job began in the morning. However, Mary says that stint also gave her “a lot of important insight into how policy works on a state level,” as well as on the federal level. In the latter example, Mary specifically saw the formulation of U.S. foreign policy regarding the ongoing Ukraine conflict. She learned about cybersecurity and “how infinite our infrastructure is secured” from the internet to the water supply, in addition to communicating with concerned local Ukrainian residents with visas about policy directed toward safety in the country.
After earning her master’s, Mary learned about the opening for the police department’s accreditation position and saw it as suitable, given her background. She applied for the position and has been in her role as accreditation manager for two-and-a-half years.
Mary explains that “in the context of law enforcement, accreditation basically refers to an independent assessment by a recognized body.” In the case of the EHPD, that independent body is the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The organization performs independent evaluations of police departments to ensure that they are in compliance with their best practices and standards. Mary plays a pivotal role when it comes to facilitating proof of the EHPD’s compliance.
“My day-to-day job is uploading proofs of compliance to demonstrate that we are in tandem with what [CALEA’s] best practices are. It’s my job to demonstrate that we adhere to that gold standard,” says Mary. “Every day, it could be anything from combing through police reports to looking at body camera footage to evaluating our policies and procedures to make sure that they're up to date with whatever CALEA or the state legislation is saying is most relevant and crucial.”
Without someone like Mary in her position, the EHPD might be slower to prove its compliance with the best standards and practices to CALEA or the state, potentially losing out on grants and insurance benefits. However, it goes beyond even that.
“I think the most important aspect of doing the accreditation is demonstration to the community,” says Mary. “We want to show transparency, we want to show accountability. We want to show that we're really trying to aim for whatever those best practices are, and that we're constantly improving and constantly looking at new ways to innovate whatever our systems are.”
Mary says the EHPD is already “one step ahead” in the state’s requirement that all law enforcement agencies in Connecticut receive accreditation—something she credits to the department being “adamant” on volunteering in the process.
Outside of the EHPD, Mary serves as the Bylaws Committee chairperson for East Haven's women-led American Legion Auxiliary Unit 89. Mary’s involvement in policy carries over into her role with the unit as she makes sure that their bylaws are “in favor of both our group and also the community members that want to get involved later on.”
Mary was inspired by the arrival of Wreaths Across America in East Haven to join the auxiliary unit and become involved with local veterans. With both the unit and the EHPD, Mary has the opportunity to work in both policy and, importantly, the community.
“You’re doing policy because you want to make your community better,” Mary says. “It’s to that betterment that I want to be involved in policy, and it’s to that betterment that I want to be involved in the community.”