Changes to Standards

At the March 2005 Commission Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, two changes to CALEA standards were approved:

• For all programs, the word “applicant” was deleted in the commentary of Guiding Principle 1.2. It now reads:

“An agency remains accountable for the performance…”

• For the Law Enforcement Accreditation Program and CALEA Recognition, a Commission Interpretation for 84.1.6 regarding “unannounced inspection” was developed. The Commission Interpretation follows:

“The Commission acknowledged that, in the past, several agencies have misinterpreted the standard to allow the chief executive officer to call for an unannounced inspection or not call for one at all. Some agencies had not called for this type of inspection during their three-year cycle. It is the Commission’s intent that these unannounced inspections be held at least once a year. The unannounced inspection is not meant to be a time consuming task. It can be as simple as the chief executive officer, or their designee, entering the property and evidence areas and inspecting for cleanliness, orderliness and tracing a few pieces of property and evidence to assure they are in the proper place as stated in the area’s records. Bullet (a) a semi-annual inspection and bullet (b) an inventory when the person responsible leaves and bullet (c) an annual audit are all much more time consuming reviews. The new interpretation for bullet (d) should not be expected to be as in-depth as the previous three bullets.”

These revisions are in effect immediately. Interim Change Notices were mailed to all agencies under Agreement.