CALEA® is dedicated to the improvement of public safety agencies services, primarily through voluntary credentialing programs and by establishing and maintaining standards for the operation of  public safety agencies. CALEA Accreditation facilitates the pursuit of professional excellence.

 Message from the Chair
 Jim O'Dell
T

CALEA Team Leader Training Schedule Continues
Training for CALEA Team Leaders on the new On-site Assessment Report format, which began at the Summer CALEA Conference in Montréal, will continue through the fall of 2007. The On-site Assessment Report training takes about three hours and will be provided at the following locations:  more

Your Commissioners – Wegner and Langley
Upon graduation from law school in 1977 and up to 1986, Commissioner Grant S. Wegner was in private law practice in Yorkville, Illinois, and was also a part-time prosecutor for Kendall County, Illinois from 1980-1986. In June 1986, he was appointed Associate Judge for the 16^th Judicial Circuit, and currently is a Circuit Court Judge for the 16^th Judicial Circuit of Illinois. Judge Wegner was elected to that position in 1990, was retained by the voters in 1996 and 2002, and also served as Chief Judge from 1998-2002.   more

Commissioner A. DeWade Langley started his law enforcement career in 1971 as a Deputy Sheriff in Custer County, Oklahoma. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, he was selected as a Special Agent for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and assigned to the Southwest Regional office in Lawton, Oklahoma. Only three years later, Langley was promoted to Deputy Inspector and transferred to the Northwest Region in Woodward, Oklahoma. While working in that capacity, he served as the lead investigator on the only long-term “sting operation” in the history of the agency. Langley became Inspector in that region four years later and in 1990, he was promoted to OSBI Deputy Director. In February of 1995, he was chosen by the OSBI Commission, from a field of nation-wide applicants, to serve as the 27^th Director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation  more

Focusing on the Victim: the Domestic Violence Response Team
It is extremely difficult to know exactly how common domestic violence is today. Because so much of it is unreported, many of the statistics are conjecture, in spite of all the sophistication in police analytics and research. The best we can do is to take the facts available and try to provide solutions. We do know that intimates, defined as spouses, ex-spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends, are responsible for 11% of all homicide victims.   more

Surveys are an important tool that law enforcement agencies can use to measure victimization, perceptions of crime, and satisfaction of citizens in the community they serve. Surveys can be used to investigate subjective issues as well as collect data about behaviors or circumstances of the respondents. A well-designed survey can produce quantitative (close-ended), as well as qualitative (open-ended), results. This hard-data can provide important feedback when evaluating the effectiveness of community policing activities and programs undertaken by agencies on behalf of their citizens. more

presents first-hand testimonies of the positive outcomes of CALEA Accreditation for an agency. These success stories reflect the often unreported benefits experienced by CALEA Agencies and all are encouraged to submit their own examples to CALEA to be shared. more

2007 SUMMER CONFERENCE REVIEW

Montréal Conference Awards

Changes to Standards Announced by SRIC
At the Summer 2007 CALEA Conference in Montréal, the Commission Standards Review and Interpretation Committee (SRIC) announced the following four changes to CALEA Standards. The changes are effective immediately. Interim Change Notices are available on the CALEA website’s Clients Only section for downloading. more

Welcome to CALEA!
Between April 1, 2007 and July 31, 2007, the following agencies joined the CALEA family by signing initial Agreements: more

The idea of providing support and assistance to crime victims is nothing new to law enforcement. Since its inception in 1979, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®) identified several standards to address this issue. What is changing is the way law enforcement agencies are approaching crime investigation and communicating with victims of crime. Law enforcement traditionally has conducted offender-oriented investigations, which focused on building a case to apprehend and convict the perpetrator. Oftentimes, once a crime victim had provided everything needed for the investigation, there was little or no contact with this individual. 

Assessors With Spanish Language Skills Needed
CALEA is seeking to train additional assessors who are fluent in speaking and reading both English and Spanish. Potential assessors should be from agencies enrolled in the CALEA Process, and have at least five years of recent law enforcement supervisory experience. Applicants need the written endorsement of their CEO to be considered. more

Funding Accreditation: Show me the Money!
It is budget presentation time and you have just been told by your city manager that this is going to be a tough year. You are going to have to make difficult decisions that effect the operation of your agency. What are your options? That was one of the decisions faced by the Lewiston-Auburn 911 Communication Center as they researched the possibility to begin the CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Process.   more

Certificates of Meritorious Accreditation Announce 
Eleven agencies were recognized during the CALEA Conference Celebration Banquet Montreal, Quebec, for having been CALEA Accredited for 15 or more continuous years. These agencies receive an enhanced Certificate of Meritorious Accreditation, displaying a blue “Meritorious” ribbon and an inscription proclaiming their 15 or more years of accredited status.  more

CALEA FLAGSHIP AGENCIES - Montréal Conference 

Ten agencies were recognized at the Montréal, Quebec, Summer CALEA Conference as a CALEA Flagship Agency. The Flagship Agency Program was introduced in December 2005 to acknowledge the achievement and expertise of some of the most successful CALEA Accredited Agencies, and also to provide “flagship examples” to assist others. Since then, 89 Flagship Agencies have been selected.  more

The Anderson County (SC) Sheriff’s Office, under the leadership of Sheriff David L. Crenshaw, has made serving crime victims more than just a goal; we have made it a reality. The Victim Services Unit has been acknowledged for not only the level of service provided, but for the commitment and care given by the staff. more

Communications Open Channel

Willis Carter, President, APCO International
APCO has proudly watched with great anticipation the steady growth of the CALEA Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program. From Northwest Bergen (NJ) Central Dispatch, which was the first CALEA Accredited communications center over six years ago, to the most recently accredited, Citrus County (FL) Sheriff’s Office – Communications Center, the number of accredited agencies stands at 47 as of August 2007. The Public Safety Communications Accreditation Program (PSCAP) signifies professional excellence, and professional excellence in our nation’s public safety communications centers equates to better services to our citizens. We believe that should be our primary goal.  more

The Summer CALEA Conference in Montréal, Quebec, marked a significant milestone for CALEA and two of its accredited agencies: the Staunton (VA) Police Department and the Tampa (FL) Police Department. They are the first agencies to be presented for a seventh CALEA Law Enforcement Accreditation Award, achieving 22 continuous years of accredited status. Both were initially accredited on May 4, 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia, and were designated Accreditation #11 and #12, respectively.

Staunton Police Department: A Long and Proud History of Accreditation

Tampa Police Department – Professionalism Built with Standards