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August 25, 2010

DPD begins process to earn CALEA accreditation

Submitted by the Dalton Police Department

The Dalton Public Safety Commission voted Tuesday morning to approve the Dalton Police Department’s initiative to become a CALEA accredited agency. CALEA accreditation is a multi-year process with the end result of bringing the department into league with the nation’s best law enforcement agencies.

CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., is an internationally recognized benchmark for professionalism in modern law enforcement agencies. The organization’s goals are to strengthen an agency’s crime prevention abilities, formalize management procedures, improve service delivery, solidify interagency cooperation and increase community confidence in the agency. Currently, 6 percent of law enforcement agencies in the United States are CALEA accredited. Thirty-eight Georgia agencies (5.8 percent) are CALEA accredited, including agencies like the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, the Rome Police Department and the Gainesville Police Department.  Ten other Georgia agencies are currently in the CALEA accreditation process.

“Like many professions, accreditation signals to citizens that their police department follows a series of demonstrated best practices in delivering police services and working closely with the community,” Chief Jason Parker said after the Public Safety Commission meeting.

CALEA accreditation focuses on a law enforcement agency’s adherence to 463 different professional standards which cover every aspect of the agency’s operations, such as organization, management, traffic operations, court services, etc. The Dalton Police Department is currently state-certified by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, which measures law enforcement agencies based on 118 professional standards. An analysis of department policies has shown than the DPD already meets more than 60 percent of CALEA standards, while approximately 30 percent will require only minor changes such as minor policy or process revisions. Only 10 percent of the standards will require significant changes.

There are many benefits to gaining CALEA accreditation. Along with greater accountability within the agency, there is a reduction in risk and liability exposure, including lower liability insurance costs, and stronger defense against civil lawsuits because it demonstrates that the agency’s personnel meet and follow internationally accepted standards for law enforcement.  

The CALEA process begins with enrollment in the program, which is followed by a self-assessment process to bring the department’s operations into compliance with CALEA standards. This process can take as long as 36 months, and will begin after department personnel attend a training conference in November. After self-assessment, the department will schedule a meeting for a team of CALEA assessors to come on-site and perform their own assessment of the department’s operations. One part of that on-site assessment will be a community forum to discuss the department. After that assessment, the CALEA commission will review its findings and make a decision. After that, the department will be re-assessed every three years.

“Our daily actions are the best way for citizens to judge professionalism,” Parker said on Tuesday. “One of the strong points of the process is that members of the community are ultimately involved in the final assessment.”

The goal is for the department to receive CALEA accreditation sometime between the fall of 2012 and spring of 2013.

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