When a police officer stops you on the street, they may seem all-powerful, but the shoe is on the other foot during the first week of June for the University of Arizona Police Department.

UAPD will undergoe an on-site assessment for national reaccreditation. Three representatives from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. will visit Tucson during the first week of June and review the department, said Acting Lt. Brian Seastone, a UAPD spokesman.

Every three years, "they assure we've been in proper compliance with our policies," he said.

Seastone said the commission checks over 430 standards with which accredited police departments must comply.

Reviewers pay special attention to the department's use of force and high-speed pursuit policies as well as its policy for officer discipline and public grievance procedures, Seastone said.

He said the nationally recognized accreditation costs around $10,000 for a three-year period.

UAPD will operate normally during the week-long accreditation period, and assessors will have complete access to the department day and night, Seastone said.

"It's not a forgone conclusion that we will be accredited," Seastone said, stressing the commission always finds some items not in compliance.

He added that most problems can be fixed during the assessment period.

Of the estimated 17,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, UAPD is one of only 350 nationally accredited agencies and the only CALEA accredited police department in southern Arizona.

Tucson Police Department and most other agencies provide their own checkups through internal affairs divisions. Because UAPD is a small department, it has no internal affairs section.

The CALEA commission will hold a public hearing June 3 at 7 p.m. in the Rincon Room at the Student Union.

The forum is a place where the public can express its feelings about the police department, Seastone said. "It is where people can come and say we're good or we're bad, and this is why."

He said anyone who cannot attend the public forum is invited to call the reviewers June 4 from 1 to 5 p.m. at 621-1308.