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One Agency View on Accreditation
On March 21, 1998, Pima Community College Department of Public Safety be came the first two-year college police department to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) during the commission’s quarterly conference held in Vancouver, BC. Pima’s department has thirty State-certified police officers and ten civilian employees responsible for the estimated 60,000 annual students at tending one or more of the five campuses located within the city limits of Tucson, AZ. Pima’s Department of Public Safety voluntarily became involved in the inter national accreditation program in July 1995 when the Director, Robert Gruber, felt that the many benefits of the pro gram outweighed the expense and time commitment involved. "It is not simply enough to know that we are doing a good job. By being evaluated by other professionals within the law enforcement field we can be assured that we are providing current, efficient and effective services to the community we serve," Gruber commented. The accreditation process provides many benefits to the college, the department, the community, and especially each individual employee of the department. Some of these benefits are quite obvious, such as decreased liability costs and a stronger defense against lawsuits and citizen complaints. However, some of the personal benefits may not be readily apparent to the individual police officer. It’s not that accreditation may not increase their paycheck immediately, but the college administration will be more likely to entertain compensation adjustment requests from a department that has been identified as among the best in the country. Pima College was extremely supportive of our goal to become accredited and provided financial support to meet some of the standards. This is a long-term commitment and will substantially benefit members of the department both now and in the future. Maintaining good vehicles, state-of-the-art radio communications, meeting training needs, providing effective safety equipment such as body armor and vehicle safety dividers, and staying current on policies and procedures within the police community not only benefits the college by providing the best service possible to the college community, but also provides each employee with the tools necessary to do the job. A lot of emphasis has been placed on the ‘paperwork" aspect of accreditation and the need to show "proof" of compliance. This emphasis comes from the manner in which the agencies are assessed during the on-site visit from CALEA. Time limits necessitate a process where the assessors can quickly evaluate the over all operation of a department and judge if that department is meeting the standards of a professional law enforcement agency. It is important to remember that the vast majority of the CALEA standards were established for the protection of the police officers of the agency. Many of the standards require that all of the agency’s employees are made aware of how the agency operates, by providing written directives that explain major department concepts such as:
The written policies, rules and procedures of the department contain much more than just procedures for day-to-day operation. They include "why" as well as how the department conducts its business. This type of information helps set the tone and character of how the department sees its mission and establishes its values, and may not always be apparent to the employees of non-accredited agencies. Accreditation belongs to the law enforcement industry. It was designed by law enforcement, it is administered by law enforcement and it is reserved for law enforcement as an effective tool to establish professional status. As of 1996, 18 percent of all full-time police officers in the United States and 10 percent of Canadian officers were in the CALEA accreditation program. Ten percent of all cities in the country with a population of 10,000 or more are involved with CALEA and 90 percent of those agencies accredited seek reaccreditation. The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. is a national program which was formed in 1979 and is currently sponsored by the Inter national Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs Association (NSA), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). This commission developed a comprehensive set of written standards covering every aspect of law enforcement policies, procedures, practices and operations. These standards were designed to:
Accreditation demonstrates the commitment of the department to professionalism in terms of adherence to a body of national standards. It assures the college and the college community that its law enforcement agency is committed to the provision of services of the highest quality and that its policies and procedures are effective and responsive on the one hand, and fair and equitable on the other. For information on accreditation, contact The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., 10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100, Fairfax, VA 22030, (800) 368-3757 or visit their Web site at www.calea.org.
About the Author Sergeant Terry W. Smart is the Accreditation Manager for the Pima Community College Department of Public Safety. Sergeant Smart has been with PIMA l0 years and has a total law enforcement career exceeding 30 years. He has an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the Community College of the Air Force, a BA in Management from the University of Phoenix, and a Master’s in Educational Leadership degree from Northern Arizona University Sergeant Smart has been an IACLEA member for two years.
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