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Accreditation

About Our Accreditation

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office earned its first accreditation through the Northwest Accreditation Alliance (NWAA) in 2009. Since then, the Office has maintained that recognition with re-accreditations in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2024.

Accreditation helps agencies evaluate and improve their overall performance. To earn it, agencies must meet a set of best-practice standards and demonstrate compliance to an independent team of assessors.

Our Standards

The NWAA standards manual includes more than 100 standards. These standards cover a wide range of topics, including:

  • Use of Force
  • Property and Evidence
  • Training
  • Fiscal Management

Why Accreditation Matters

Accreditation delivers real benefits to the Sheriff’s Office and the community it serves. Those benefits include:

  • Reduced premiums for liability insurance
  • Decreased susceptibility to litigation
  • Improved operational effectiveness
  • Greater internal pride in the agency
  • Stronger public confidence in the professionalism of the Sheriff’s Office

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