Socorro Police Department earns TPCA accreditation after 2.5-year effort

Chief Robert C. Rojas announced that the Socorro Police Department has achieved accreditation under Texas best-practice standards after a 2.5-year effort. Rojas, who identified himself as chief of police for the City of Socorro and said he was hired in November 2023, said the accreditation was his main goal when he took the job and that "the main most important goal was to be accredited and to be recognized as Texas best practices."

The accreditation follows a systematic review of policies and procedures to align the department with 172 standards required by TPCA. "We adopted policies and procedures that were going to align us with 172 standards that are required by TPCA," Rojas said, adding the department restructured personnel and shifts and conducted internal audits. Damaris Gill, the department's accreditation manager, said the status means residents can expect officers to be trained and policies to be regularly updated: "The Socorro Police Department is an accredited agency through TPCA, and what that means to our residents is that we are following the best practices here in Texas."

Department leaders described the accreditation as the first time the City of Socorro has reached this recognition and said the work included substantial policy rewriting, internal audits and external review by assessors. The announcement did not include a formal vote or implementation deadline; rather, speakers framed the accreditation as a completed external verification of practices. The department said it completed the work in approximately 2.5 years and that the process required uploading evidence and opening operations for review by assessors.