Accreditation

[bodei]

Exuse my ignorance but what does accreditation actually mean for a PD/SO? I'm attempting to join the ranks and this is a bit of info I would like to know. Thanks

[mdcop4life]

It is a "national accred." AKA CALEA ........ basically a way for departments to stay within certain standards across the board. Some agencies have it, some don't, some want it. The biggest don't always have it.....here in DC, MPD does not have CALEA.

I believe every year or two, CALEA comes to agencies to audit how they are conducting themselves......and to make sure that they are staying in line with the guidelines.

I hope this helps.......I try to stay away from this part of the agency...so this is all the knowledge I will ever have on the subject LOL.

[Delta784]

IMO, CALEA accreditation is an enormous waste of money, resources, and time. I've never seen a convincing argument for its implementation.

[Washingtonian]

IMO, CALEA accreditation is an enormous waste of money, resources, and time. I've never seen a convincing argument for its implementation.

I 2nd that. A huge waste of resources.

[JHoek]

I believe every year or two, CALEA comes to agencies to audit how they are conducting themselves......and to make sure that they are staying in line with the guidelines.

Last year CALEA did the audit at my agency. It was quite funny how many emails we received from the brass reminding us to clean things up. The CALEA reps even did several ride-alongs with patrol. I was concerned that they would quiz officers on P&P and other CALEA aspects (they didn't). I was lucky and did not have to entertain one of them for the shift.

IMO, CALEA accreditation is an enormous waste of money, resources, and time. I've never seen a convincing argument for its implementation.

I agree 100%. I think it costs around $50K for my agency. (thats what I heard, have to facts to back this up)

[wild800]

IMO, CALEA accreditation is an enormous waste of money, resources, and time. I've never seen a convincing argument for its implementation.

AMEN! It's a racket...

[Bodie]

Oh no no way you can use bodei as a name ....... That just ain't cuttin it.

[irishlad2nv]

LOL @ Bodie...j/k.


There is also the Law Enforcement Recognition...yeah u get recognized...LOL and get to put that pretty sticker on all the patrol cars as you do with CALEA...lol. Go figure...again, waste of money!

[squad51]

It cost on local gency 100,000 for re-eval...not to mention they had a sgt dedicated to that for two years...that is the starting salary for two cops in the 100,000 grand alone!!! what a waste if I was a tax payer in that city I would be enraged.

[nocode]

I worked on an accreditation team for an SO and thought it was a bunch of BS, a money-racket, etc.

Now, I work for a PD and we're re-writing our policy and procedure to conform with CALEA's standards. It's helped our department a lot so far, but we haven't actually started the Accreditation process. It's long and tedious and I'm still not sure if it's worth THAT much money. It's a shame, because all departments need to be on the same page when it comes to those issues mandated by CALEA for Accreditation.

You can also go to http://www.calea.org/

[USAcop]

It helps to reduce a a departments liability insurance costs.

its a scam to make money.

[APDSgt]

Ditto on the reducing liability insurance. (So they tell us)

It's every three years to get re-accredited. It does cost big $$$. We have a Capt, Sgt, and secretary working nearly full time to make sure all of the files are ready in a couple of months.

Lots of trees are getting chopped down to make all of the paper we are going through to document EVERYTHING.

Last time, one of the assessors went on a ride-a-long and was involved in a car crash.