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Case Number 25
Submitted by Lieutenant John A. Woods, Accreditation Manager, Garden Grove (CA) Police Department
Clearly, one of the most significant and immediately identified benefits of being an accredited agency was the complete review and rewriting of our General Orders manual. Policies and procedures were updated to meet the standards established by CALEA. In speaking with accreditation managers from other agencies, especially those preparing for their first accreditation, this is always mentioned as one of the most significant benefits. Most non-accredited agencies do not update their General Orders, or Policies and Procedures Manuals as regularly as they should and, often, not until forced to do so because of an unfortunate incident. Accreditation provides the incentive an agency needs to continually review existing policies and procedures while providing updated guidelines, that are recognized by experts as the current standard. Another example of how accreditation works was depicted in the November 1996 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine in an article entitled, "America’s Best Suburban Police Forces." The Garden Grove Police Department is proud to have been recognized as one of the eight top suburban police agencies in the United States. What is also interesting, is that each of these top agencies was accredited. Accreditation provides a tool for the Garden Grove Police Department to continuously evaluate itself against professionally recognized standards. It also helps ensure that the department provides the business community, and most important of all, the residents of Garden Grove with the best service possible.
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