{"id":263886,"date":"2026-08-12T12:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263886\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:02:49","slug":"hamburg-police-earn-state-accreditation-after-five-year-overhaul-of-policies-and-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/263886\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamburg police earn state accreditation after five\u2011year overhaul of policies and accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hamburg Police Department has earned state accreditation after a five\u2011year effort to overhaul policies, tighten accountability measures and modernize how the small agency operates \u2014 a distinction held by only two other police departments in Berks County.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association formally presented the accreditation certificate to borough officials on July 28 during a recognition ceremony in the borough municipal building. Hamburg, with eight full\u2011time and three part\u2011time officers, is now the only small municipal department in Berks to achieve the designation. The other accredited municipal agencies \u2014 Spring Township and Exeter Township \u2014 each employ dozens of officers.<\/p>\n

\"State<\/p>\n

COURTESY OF HAMBURG POLICE<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jamie Barton presents a certificate of achievement to Hamburg Police Chief Anthony Kuklinski during a recognition ceremony at the borough municipal building on July 28. (COURTESY OF HAMBURG POLICE)<\/p>\n

Chief Anthony Kuklinski said the milestone capped a slow, deliberate process that reshaped not only the department\u2019s procedures but its culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just changing policies and procedures,\u201d Kuklinski said. \u201cIt was changing the mindset of officers \u2014 making themselves and the agency more accountable. We had to rethink how we do things and bring new and fresh ideas into the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program requires agencies to meet 154 standards covering everything from use\u2011of\u2011force protocols to evidence handling, internal affairs, record\u2011keeping and pursuit policies. Departments must prove compliance annually.<\/p>\n

Some agencies take a decade or more to complete the process, Kuklinski said. Hamburg finished in five years.<\/p>\n

Each year, the department must demonstrate \u2014 with documentation \u2014 that its practices match the standards.<\/p>\n

The accreditation also prompted upgrades to facilities and several record\u2011keeping measures.<\/p>\n

\"Cpl.<\/p>\n

COURTESY OF HAMBURG POLICE<\/p>\n

Cpl. Ryan Brobst, Officer Tito Loor, Chief Anthony Kuklinski, Administrative Officer Dana McGarvey and State Rep. Jamie Barton gather as the department is recognized for earning state accreditation. (COURTESY OF HAMBURG POLICE)<\/p>\n

Kuklinski said the department strengthened several core policies during the accreditation process, including use\u2011of\u2011force guidelines, Taser deployment rules, shooting\u2011range procedures and pursuit standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cUse\u2011of\u2011force policies are pretty standard across the state,\u201d he said. \u201cWe put in a more restrictive training module that officers have to go through. The same goes for our pursuit policy \u2014 ours is more restrictive, centered on public safety and the safety of the officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other enhancements included requirements for follow\u2011up investigation, internal affairs procedures, evidence chain\u2011of\u2011custody protocols and improved record\u2011keeping.<\/p>\n

The department is updating its license\u2011plate reader policy. Hamburg\u2019s license\u2011plate reader cameras are mounted on patrol vehicles.<\/p>\n

Kuklinski acknowledged that not everyone embraced the changes immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a certain buy\u2011in apprehension at first,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s normal. They had to accept that this is the norm for our agency. This is how it needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the process also forced him to confront areas where improvement was needed, even when he believed the department was already performing well.<\/p>\n

Kuklinski believes residents expect their police department to operate with clear guidelines and accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re using a standard model that has been vetted and tried, and we\u2019ve limited our exposure to scrutiny,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives us a good foundation but also gives us a path forward to continuous improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the accreditation program began in 2001, more than 375 agencies have enrolled, but only 209 maintain accredited status statewide.<\/p>\n

Meaningful benefits to the department and community include reduced liability exposure, modernize management practices, strengthened community trust and increased officer confidence, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarning state accreditation reflects our department\u2019s unwavering commitment to accountability, transparency and professional excellence,\u201d Kuklinski said. \u201cThis is the result of hard work from our officers and staff to ensure Hamburg receives the highest quality public safety services possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hamburg Police Department has earned state accreditation after a five\u2011year effort to overhaul policies, tighten accountability measures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,12116,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-263886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-hamburg","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}