2001 Re-Accreditation

2001 Re-Accreditation Team
Sgt. David Dukes Accreditation Manager	Sgt. Carl Sells	Connie Shoemake

In order to become an accredited law enforcement agency, CALEA drafted 443 standards for agencies to meet. These standards addressed six major law enforcement subjects:

• Role, responsibilities, and relationships with other agencies
• Organization, management, and administration
• Personnel administration
• Law enforcement operations, operational support, and traffic law enforcement
• Prisoner and court-related services
• Auxiliary and technical services

Agencies that seek accreditation are required to comply only with those standards that are specifically applicable to them. These standards prescribe "what" agencies should be doing but not "how" they should be doing it. That decision is left up to the individual agency and its Chief Executive Officer.

In our bid for re-accreditation, our assessors arrived on December 8, 2001 to conduct an On-Site inspection. This included a review of our agency's staff, facilities, files, and procedures. The assessors were:

• Major Thomas K. Wilson of the Warwick Police Department in Rhode Island
• Major J. Rodney Connell of the Fulton County Marshal's Department in Georgia
• Lieutenant Winnie Bailey of the Huntsville Police Department in Alabama

On Sunday, December 9, the assessors observed our static display in which we displayed our special purpose vehicles, SWAT equipment, canines, criminal investigation equipment, a patrol vehicle, our records section, evidence vault, and the communications section. The assessors then began their review of the 443 accreditation files, a three-day long process.

On Monday evening, the assessors conducted a public forum. Several members of the community including community leaders spoke of their appreciation for the department and of their support for the re-accreditation process. On Tuesday afternoon, the assessors manned the phones to allow the public to call in with any comments. All comments were positive and supportive of the department.

The assessors conducted their exit interview with the accreditation team and the command staff on Wednesday, December 12. They complimented our community involvement, our victim intervention programs, our positive community feedback, and the neatness and organization of our files.