|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Time to Take Another Look at Law Enforcement Accreditation™ By Chief Sylvester Daughtry, Jr., Greensboro Police Department, North Carolina; President, Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. Of the 561,543 full-time police officers (Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, 1994) in the United States at city county and state levels, 18 percent are in agencies formally involved in the law enforcement accreditation™ process through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). Of these officers participating in the process, 75,075 are in agencies already accredited. Another 17,169 are with agencies formally working towards accreditation. Ten percent of cities with populations of 10,000 or more have police departments participating in the CALEA system. Additionally, 10 percent of Canadian officers are employed by accredited agencies, giving CALEA legitimate international stature. Equally impressive is the fact that since CALEA began accrediting agencies in 1984, 90 percent of those that received initial accreditation continue with CALEA by entering into arrangements for reaccreditation.A private, nonprofit corporation, CALEA was founded in 1979 by the IACP, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Police Executive Research Forum. CALEA was created as a result of the nationally troublesome decades of the 1960s and ‘70s, which too frequently found law enforcement failing to meet its responsibilities. Public and governmental units lost confidence in the police as a rapidly changing society was rocked by riots and disturbances over race and the Vietnam War. Often police were not prepared for emergencies. Agencies failed to learn from the experiences of others, and little coordination between agencies was evident. Many agencies were undertrained; selection processes were generally invalid, and were often discriminatory; policies and procedures were frequently not well written, fully thought out or regularly updated. In many police agencies, officers were underpaid, poorly equipped, unresponsive to their communities and not respected as professionals. Many of CALEA’s standards and goals are directly related to the Report on Police issued in 1973 by the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. This 668-page document was developed to provide guidance for law enforcement agencies as a way to improve themselves and provide better services to those they protect. Just as accreditation was part of the answer to problems of the past generation, so also is accreditation part of the solution to the issues confronting law enforcement today. Currently, CALEA accreditation embodies the only comprehensive and creditable standards for agencies within and outside the United States. Besides bestowing recognition on outstanding law enforcement agencies, accreditation confers such benefits as an improved, more effective administrative system, reduced liability potential, greater supervisory accountability and greater governmental and community support. The Structure The commission is composed of 21 volunteer commissioners, 11 of whom are practicing law enforcement executives; the other 10 members represent a cross-section of the non-law enforcement community including public officials, educators and business leaders. Each commissioner is appointed to a three-year, renewable term by the founding organizations. Commissioners establish policy, which is then implemented by CALEA’s professional staff. The commission holds three meetings annually in different locations in the United States and Canada. At these meetings, accreditation applications are reviewed, training provided, standards reviewed and general commission business addressed. Equally important, the meetings offer law enforcement the opportunity to interact with commissioners and CALEA staff. Over the past three years, CALEA has matured significantly. The cornerstone of its success is linked to revision of its standards applicable to operational and administrative practices as found in the third edition of the Commission’s Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies. A Standards Review Committee—consisting of 35 practicing law enforcement leaders representing diverse geographic regions and many different types of agencies—deleted, merged or revised the previous 897 standards. This process produced the 436 standards currently considered necessary and meaningful to contemporary policing. Obtaining CALEA accreditation is still a significant challenge that tends to affect agency administration more than line operations. Additionally, the accountability of mid-level supervisors is increased. To obtain the most benefit from accreditation, agencies should view it as a continuing process, involving development and maintenance of a system that provides a plan to ensure fair treatment of employees, effective delivery of services and operational readiness for future emergencies and unusual circumstances. The world changes slowly every day, so police efforts should keep up through incremental changes. For example, independent research and operational experience supports the fact that the CALEA process reinforces the underpinnings of the popular community policing initiatives. The goals of CALEA accreditation are to improve crime prevention and control capabilities, formalize management procedures, establish fair and nondiscriminatory personnel practices, improve service delivery, improve interagency cooperation and coordination, and increase confidence in the law enforcement agency. Six major topics are covered by accreditation standards: agency role and responsibilities; organization and administration; personnel administration; operations and support; prisoner and court-related issues; and auxiliary and technical services. Standards applicable to a given agency are based on its law enforcement mission and size. Agencies are told what the standards are; the individual agency decides how to best meet them. Participating agencies has formed twenty-nine voluntary regional Police Accreditation Coalitions (PACs) or those interested in obtaining accreditation. PACs disseminate information, provide regional assistance to agencies in the accreditation process and act as advocates on behalf of their members on matters they wish to bring to the attention of the commission. PAC information and assistance are particularly useful to new agencies undertaking the accreditation challenge because they are spared the necessity of reinventing this particular wheel. The Process The heart of the accreditation process is the "self-assessment" phase, in which the agency measures its efforts against each standard and prepares a brief file that documents compliance. If an agency is not in compliance, or its review indicates that improvement or revision of past efforts is desirable, this is the appropriate time to make changes. Usually requiring 18 to 24 months to complete, self-assessment is followed by a formal, on-site assessment. The on-site assessment is the test of the agency’s work. Usually, a team of three law enforcement professionals with experience in agencies of similar type and size verifies local compliance with all applicable standards. The credibility of CALEA’s program is strengthened by its impartial and respected on-site agency reviews. Assessors are chosen after CALEA reviews their credentials and provides special assessor training. To eliminate potential conflicts of interest among assessors conducting a given on-site assessment, CALEA makes its selections from a state or region other than the one in which the assessment will occur; compliance is ensured through several administrative controls. Although non-adversarial, the voluntary CALEA program ensures that local influence or associations do not corrupt the accreditation program or generate the impression that it is watered down. To ensure quality assessments, the reviewed agency is allowed to critique the assessment team. Fairness is enhanced by a seldom-used appeals procedure. Recently, CALEA developed a certification program that permits agencies to participate in the accreditation process in steps. It also permits professional stand-alone law enforcement support services to be recognized for superior performance. Certification is available in four areas: communications, court security, internal affairs and training. Agencies that have problems to overcome often shy away from accreditation because they are deficient in a number of areas. However, accreditation presents an unusual opportunity for agencies to initiate a restructuring. This is why CALEA was established in the first place to help agencies embark on a program of self-improvement. Of course, those agencies already operating in accordance with professional standards will have less difficulty in obtaining the recognition associated with accredited status. However, for those agencies experiencing difficulties but seeking improvements, CALEA offers a system to accomplish that goal. National and local incidents involving police will continue to expose questionable police practices and produce increased public scrutiny. These demanding and difficult times emphasize the need for accreditation. Clearly, CALEA is a major factor in contemporary law enforcement, and the progressiveness and professionalism it represents will be embraced by more and more agencies in the years ahead.
THE POLICE CHIEF MAGAZINE/NOVEMBER 1996
|
|
|
