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The year 2000 ushered in the 21st Century and with it came continued progress in CALEA’s efforts to extend professional credentialing to law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond. The year also saw success in CALEA’s efforts to bring its member agencies up-to-date concerning the ever-changing issues facing law enforcement. CALEA’s three annual conferences were extremely successful as evidenced by record attendance. At these meetings, CALEA’s Standards Review and Interpretation Committee proposed a number of significant changes in existing standards as well as new standards for member agencies to review. These dealt with such significant issues as use of force, profiling, early warning systems, Employee Assistance Programs, etc. All of these proposals were intended to respond to current issues in law enforcement in a pro-active manner. Training at these meetings was designed to be both practical and current. In addition to manager and assessor training, courses were held on such topics as profiling, community policing, forensic science, gang relations, and less lethal weapons systems. During the year, a number of milestones were announced aimed at helping smaller agencies attain professional recognition.
The result of that
study was the establishment of the CALEA Agency Support Fund (CASF) to be
implemented in 2001. The mission of
CASF is to enhance the law enforcement, public safety communications and law
enforcement training professions by offering financial support to qualified
agencies seeking accreditation, recognition or certification.
The Fund is designed to be used for, but not limited to, the making of
direct financial grants to agencies that have proven a demonstrated need for
such support in order to attain CALEA accreditation, recognition or
certification. CASF may also be
used to support such studies and research as may be needed to facilitate and
improve the programs of establishing standards and accreditation of public
safety agencies. 2001 promises to show a continuation of our
progress. We are taking a
full-scale review of all of CALEA’s certification programs with regard to
their efficacy. We are in the
process of developing a law enforcement training accreditation program.
We are in talks with the U.S. Department of Defense concerning
accreditation of military police. Further, efforts to streamline the accreditation process will
continue. Traditionally, assessments have involved
extensive file reviews to determine compliance with applicable standards.
While this method is workable, experience has shown that it does not
involve a large cross-section of agency population and the purpose of the
accreditation dims with subsequent assessments.
Experimentation in the field has suggested that assessors can expand the
scope of their compliance review, improve their effectiveness and enhance the
quality of the assessment for the agency. A
number of “beta-tests” were conducted in 2000 involving off-site document
review and the use of a compliance panel that interview key agency personnel. The results of these tests were highly successful and will
lead to greater utilization of this new procedure in the future. In reviewing these accomplishments, we should
not lose sight of the fact that this progress is due, in no small measure, to
the dedicated work of the twenty-one person Commission and CALEA’s
professional staff. Due to term
limits, the Commission lost two of its long-time members: Keith Chadwell and
Henry DeGeneste. In their place,
two new members were selected: Eduardo Gonzalez and John D. Glover.
Both have excellent credentials and much to offer the Commission in terms
of experience and dedication. At
the same time, CALEA’s headquarters’ staff was increased by two last year,
reflecting the increased workload. In conclusion, after an outstanding year, I
have every reason to be optimistic about CALEA’s future.
The foundation has been laid for further growth and expansion as CALEA
responds to the need of our public safety professionals.
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