‘Not a little deal’: Santa Clara-Ivins Police Dept. receives unique accreditation

IVINS — The Santa Clara-Ivins Police Department has become the first non-campus police force in Washington County to receive accreditation from Utah Chiefs of Police Association. 

Santa Clara-Ivins Police Chief  Bob Flowers during a presentation at the Ivins City Council Meeting at the new Ivins City Hall, Ivins, Utah, Dec. 2, 2021 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

According to the association, accredited agencies “meet predetermined standards that can and will improve service levels of the agency.”

Santa Clara-Ivins Police Chief Bob Flowers accepted the accreditation from St. George Police Chief Kyle Whitehead and Dixie State Police Chief Blair Barfuss during a ceremony at the Dec. 2 Ivins City Council meeting at the new Ivins City Hall. 

For Whitehead, it was a special moment.

“Chief Flowers is one of my mentors. He hired me 22 years ago,” Whitehead said. 

Santa Clara-Ivins is the third police agency in Southern Utah and 17th statewide to receive this accreditation. The Dixie State University Department of Public Safety received accreditation in September 2019 and remains the only campus police organization to have such a designation in the state. The Cedar City Police Department was accredited in March. 

Seal for Police departments accredited by the Utah Chiefs of Police Association | Photo courtesy of Utah Chiefs of Police Association, St. George News

“It’s really a big deal. It’s not a little deal,” Flowers said. “We roll up on a scene and the best we can do, we do that.”

As an accredited agency, Santa Clara-Ivins is expected to adhere to professional standards that range from use of force and prohibitions against chokeholds to training to operation and even uniform standards. 

Barfuss served as the assessor that determined accreditation for the Santa Clara-Ivins department. He said it was more than just a few checkmarks that determined the department was worthy of accreditation. 

“There’s 173 points of proof you need to show compliance with,” Barfuss said, adding that it isn’t a one-time thing and departments are rerated annually to determine if they’re still worthy of accreditation. “These are best practices.”

Flowers eluded to the conviction that day of Steven Timothy Smith of the murder of his wife in Ivins in May. Flowers said adhering to best practices in the gathering of evidence aided in the conviction.  

“One of the things is whether you have 13, 18 or 18,000 people in your department, you have standards you need to meet for evidence gathering,” Flowers said. “We’re a nation where we have processes in our criminal investigations and everything we do comes under scrutiny and a defense looks for that, as they should.”

(L-R) Santa Clara-Ivins Police Sgt. Jaron Studley and Chief Bob Flowers during a presentation at the Ivins City Council Meeting at the new Ivins City Hall, Ivins, Utah, Dec. 2, 2021 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Santa Clara-Ivins Sgt. Jaron Studley led the investigation that resulted in Smith’s guilty verdict.  

“I don’t think there was room for them to buy into police conduct,” Studley said. “The way we conducted ourselves made for a solid case.”

Studley was selected by the chiefs association to become an assessor of other departments himself, joining Barfuss.   

Santa Clara and Ivins merged their police departments back in July 2012 and are in the process of moving their base of operations to what is now the former Ivins City Hall after a new City Hall opened a few weeks ago next door.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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