Whether you are accredited or have been thinking about becoming accredited, this year will produce more resources and opportunities for agencies to successfully implement best practices and produce positive outcomes through the application of standards. The CALEA Accreditation process is a results-driven professional services strategy that serves as a continuous example of how to achieve and maintain excellence in public safety.
Leading an agency to its full potential requires a dependable system that delivers information and insights to the CEO and others in the organization on what is working and where enhancements are needed. Although the CALEA Accreditation model has now been in existence for 40 years, it continues to evolve and improve through the enhancement of resources that assist with tracking and monitoring agency practices and outcomes.
CALEA is currently working with PowerDMS™ to develop a conduit for access to sample policies within the accreditation management software. The vision is for participating agencies to quickly be able to review standards-anchored policies from peer organizations. These policies can serve as resources to assist organizations in making comprehensive management decisions. The concept is currently being tested by a select group of accredited agencies, with aspirations of product release later in 2019.
The National Police Foundation (NPF) has developed a resource for law enforcement agencies to review survey information on a broad range of topics impacting the industry and associated policy decisions. CALEA has partnered with the NPF in an effort to attract more law enforcement agencies’ participation within the application, with intentions of providing more data for consideration by those using the platform.
The CALEA Board of Commissioners has approved a tiered accreditation program for campus security entities. This tiered program has identified a subgroup of life, health and safety standards to support the CALEA Campus Security Accreditation Award and the broader set of standards will serve to support the CALEA Advanced Campus Security Accreditation Award. The release of this product is anticipated to occur in the first quarter of 2019.
The CALEA/APCO, International Accreditation Manager Online Training Course was well attended in 2018. Moving forward and beginning with the law enforcement curriculum, efforts are being applied to deliver this product in Spanish to specifically support accreditation managers in Mexico. Information will be sent encouraging participation once enrollment is open.
This year also marks the completion of transitioning all enrolled agencies to a four-year accreditation cycle with annual assessments and a site-based assessment in the final year. Because of this transition, there will only be two conferences in 2019. These conferences will occur in Huntsville, Alabama in May and Northern Kentucky in November. More information about these conferences may be found on the CALEA website by visiting www.calea.org/confereces. In 2020, CALEA will resume the three conference a year schedule.
As always, CALEA aspires to remain the preeminent credentialing body in the field of public safety. And, we will continuously listen to the suggestions of those using accreditation as a tool for professional enhancements to structure our services and programming. We look forward to supporting public safety leaders and practitioners in the field of public safety in 2019.