Henrico County will receive its re-certification as a Certified Crime Prevention Community (CCPC) from the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) Feb. 21. The re-certification represents Henrico CCPC Team's successful documentation of 12 core community safety elements and seven optional elements between 2008 and 2010.

It's Henrico's second recertification since its initial certification in 2003. More than 22 officials from seven agencies worked more than five months to prepare the necessary documents for submission. The agencies represented include: Police; Commonwealth's Attorney, Victim Witness Office; Mental Health and Developmental Services, Prevention Unit; Community Revitalization, Community Maintenance Section; Social Services; Courts Services, Juvenile Probation; and Henrico County Public Schools. The County of Henrico is one of 13 localities within the Commonwealth of Virginia certified as a Crime Prevention Community.

The goal of the Certified Crime Prevention Community Program (CCPC) is to publicly recognize and certify localities that have implemented a defined set of community safety strategies as part of a comprehensive community safety/crime prevention effort.

To obtain certification and recertification, a locality must meet 12 core community safety elements/strategies augmented by a minimum of seven approved optional elements. The Henrico County Board of Supervisors assigned responsibility to the Chief of Police for the completion of this program in the Resolution of Participation.