COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton County Sheriff’s Office traveled to New Orleans to attend the American Correctional Accreditation conference to receive its recertification award.
NCSO received a perfect score of 100 across the board on all 300-plus standards during the onsite audit in November 2018.
Other attending agencies as well as the auditors were amazed and raved about the outstanding accomplishments of NCSO and asked if outside agency members could sit in and observe the panel Q&A on Saturday, Jan. 12 with NCSO. The session is private and usually closed to the public, however, in an effort to provide valuable information to those aspiring to receive exceptional scores during the review process, the observation was made allowable.
Those in attendance from Newton County were Sheriff Ezell Brown, 1st Lt. Brice Smith, Lt. Selena Williams, Yvonne McMullen and Chairman Marcello Banes.
NCSO received its initial ACA certification January 2016. Concluding the session, NCSO received a standing ovation from the crowd as well as the review panel. Other agencies have requested to shadow NCSO to aid them in their upcoming ACA review process. Sheriff Ezell Brown would like to personally like to thank Chairman Banes for his attendance and support.
“This was a promise I made during the initial campaign, for the attainment and maintaining of this accreditation document to be nationally accredited," Sheriff Brown said. "There is no 'I' in teamwork and we all worked together to make this achievement possible.
"At first, I did not consider this to be a big deal. However, as we listened to all the different counties from around the United States ask, 'How did you do it,' 'How did you score 100’s across the board on over 300 plus standards?' Not once was this asked, but twice. Then they requested to observe our paneling session and upon conclusion the room erupted in applause. That was an amazing site to see.
"However, when many agencies begin to request to shadow the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, I knew then this accomplishment is truly a 'Big Deal.' Not only a 'Big Deal' to me. But a 'Big Deal' to the NCSO family, the community and Newton County as a whole. This is something worth achieving.
On a daily basis, we strive to meet the highest standards, and this award shows that we are doing a great job for the citizens of Newton County. It is an honor and privilege where jails and law enforcement services are recognized on state and national levels as a model facility.
To the staff, I appreciate them believing in my leadership and following through with everything that is set before them in achieving Gold standards and at the highest-level Triple Crown status.”
