BELLMEAD, Texas (KXXV) — The Bellmead Police Department achieved a 15.5% reduction in crime from 2024 to 2025 and earned a prestigious statewide accreditation.
The department credited the drop in crime to strategic crime reduction efforts, strong community partnerships, and a shared commitment to keeping Bellmead safe.
The department officially achieved Accreditation Status through the Texas Police Chiefs Association Foundation’s Law Enforcement Accreditation Program. The designation represents the Gold Standard in Texas law enforcement professionalism.
The City says the accreditation is a rigorous and comprehensive process that evaluates compliance across a series of best-practice standards related to policing, accountability, and community safety. Achieving accreditation reflects the professionalism, discipline, and commitment to excellence of the department’s officers and professional staff.
Statewide, fewer than 10% of Texas law enforcement agencies hold this accreditation. Just over 200 agencies have achieved the designation, placing Bellmead among a select group committed to excellence in public safety.
"You have to meet these 173 standards. And they're not very easy to meet because there are several things that come into play, not only from just policies that have to be in place, but also procedures, and that you're actually following through with those," Bellmead Police Chief Shawn Myatt said.
"This process was a little over a year that staff had to go through and provide the proofs and validations and be able to pass the audit, which went before a board that voted unanimously for us to achieve the gold standard accreditation processes," Myatt said.
"And basically what that means for us and what we're excited about is, that we have an independent agency, saying that we met all 173 standards. That meets the best practices that are in place and we follow state law as we operate as a police department. That is a big deal for us," Myatt said.
"And not only that, to put into perspective, accreditation has been around for many years. There are over 2700 agencies in the state of Texas, and we are number 226 that have achieved gold star accreditation," Myatt said.
"So if you do the math on that, that's less than 10% of the agencies in the state of Texas that have reached that goal. Because it's a hard process to get through. And it should be a hard process to meet. I mean, it shouldn't be easy. But we're very proud," Myatt said.
"I'm very, very proud of all my staff, the program manager, who is Lieutenant Grisham, who put a lot of time and energy into this to get us to the point where we could be accredited," Myatt said. "And I'm proud of the staff that has worked hard and come together and made this possible as well. So we're very excited about it."
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