The Gloucester Sheriff’s Office was recognized for receiving full accreditation by the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission at the Oct. 1 meeting of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors.

New Kent County Sheriff Joe McLaughlin worked alongside the local department in the accreditation process and was on hand to present the award.

“The citizens of Gloucester should be thankful for the Sheriff’s Office that they do have,” McLaughlin said. He said the accreditation process is completely voluntary and added that to receive accreditation, 190 standards covering the areas of administration, operations, personnel and training must be met annually. 

A three-person team spent three days in Gloucester over the summer evaluating the GSO. “They presented to the commission that Gloucester had a perfect reaccreditation,” McLaughlin said. “This is not common, especially for an agency that does not ask for waivers. Glou...