Vicksburg residents will have 10-minute opportunities to comment about the Vicksburg Police Department next week as part of a process for the agency’s potential state accreditation.

Phone lines will be open from 1 until 3 p.m. Dec. 13 at 601-801-5393, police Chief Walter Armstrong said. Calls must be limited to 10 minutes and must be directly related to policies and procedures of the department, he said.

Officials from the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Accreditation Commission will spend three days at VPD next week in the final step of the accreditation process, Armstrong said.

“They will have the final say so on the assessment,” Armstrong said.

The assessors will pour over paperwork at VPD Dec. 13 though Dec. 15 and, if VPD receives accreditation, it will be one of 16 agencies in the state to receive the accolades, he said.

VPD has been working for two years to update policies and procedures, Armstrong said. Some of the policies dated to the 1970s. One of the biggest changes, he said, is the addition and expansion of community outreach programs such as Street Ball and Neighborhood Watch.