CALEA Accreditation Helps Agency Meet POST Training Goals and Deadlines

The Rocklin, California Police Department proudly received CALEA Accreditation in 2007. Our goal, during the next accreditation cycle, was to sustain our excellence by revamping our training program, making it more efficient in the process. This efficiency would include: better record keeping, electronically archiving all training records, and achieving a higher compliance rating with the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). Our process for maintaining CALEA standards helped translate our goals into reality. The Rocklin Police Department was successfully reaccredited in March 2011. 

As a management tool, CALEA is an innovative way of conducting critical analysis and achieving results as opposed to merely documenting performance. Throughout the accreditation process, which includes a self-assessment phase, organizations are led to success by producing deliverables by an agreed upon deadline. Human nature tends to focus on visible priorities—things that we deal with frequently. It is also in our nature to forget those issues which rarely surface. Achieving CALEA Accreditation not only demonstrates an agency’s commitment to higher standards, but it also becomes the driving force which prompts us to look for those forgotten items before they become a liability.

For example, training management is one of law enforcement’s most important obligations. A significant problem with any agency’s training plan, cost factor aside, is the multitude of different requirements. Different governing agencies place emphasis on various subject areas, thus requiring a complex law enforcement agency training strategy. POST requires us to train on perishable skills, while the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) requires reoccurring training on blood-borne pathogens. Our city’s rules require us to train on sexual harassment, and California State legislature requires us to train on jail/holding facilities and other important issues. Oversight and management become overwhelming, yet critical. If compliance falters, then liability looms. Training compliance and record maintenance are paramount to smooth operations in stressful environments. CALEA Accreditation demands that level of oversight and keeps accredited agencies from neglecting areas that might otherwise go unattended.

I attended a training manager’s course in central California where students were assigned to conduct a training compliance audit of their agency under the supervision of a California POST consultant. Twenty-five different agencies were represented in the class, and when hearing the assignment, most of the students (all training managers) had an expression of horror on their face. In the end, 23 agencies had a compliance rating of less than 50% for previous years. The other two agencies scored 98% or better for their compliance rating. Those two agencies were CALEA Accredited—Rocklin was one of them.

The state statutes and governmental organizations in California prescribe required training. They do not enforce these requirements or have a system of accountability in place. Accreditation is virtually the only system that keeps agencies on track with meeting training goals and deadlines. CALEA standards meet or exceed these prescribed training requirements, thus CALEA agencies have very little concern when an audit occurs or a lawsuit looms. CALEA Accreditation ensures departmental compliance through continual evaluation and oversight, the hallmark of any efficient business model.