Case
Number 31
 As
Commander of the Support Services Division, one of my responsibilities is
provision of training to employees regarding the familiarization with the
accreditation process (Std. 33.5.3). If
ever I had a doubt as to whether or not my employees understood the significance
of CALEA and the impact it has on the delivery of Law Enforcement services and
the partnerships it builds, it was recently put to rest.
The
week of March 19, 2001, I attended a statewide symposium on recruitment and
selection of entry-level police officers.
At this symposium, I met another
command staff officer whose agency had just joined the Illinois PAC and was
investigating the benefits of CALEA. During
our conversation, he joked about the fact that Wheeling, with its Lateral Entry
Program, had enticed one of his better officers to leave and join our ranks.
The officer in question had approximately eleven years of service and
elected to move to a slightly larger agency.
The
command officer went on in a complimentary fashion that this officer had
maintained contact with his personnel extolling the virtues of accreditation. Specifically, the officer had been selling the process to his
former friends and colleagues with comments to the effect,
"…accreditation provided the best possible guidance, with
a comprehensive General Order/Standard Operating Procedure manual.
The directive system was easy to follow, and this translated into a
rewarding field training experience and an easy transition from his former
agency to his new agency.” The commander was impressed that the CALEA process had made
such a direct impact on his officer and that he had taken the time to help
promote it. The message was clear
that he was not soliciting others to join him in Wheeling, but he was highly
recommending that his former agency pursue accreditation.
This undeniably demonstrates a win/win situation, consistent with the
basic goals of CALEA. Wheeling has
acquired an employee with improved confidence in the goals and objectives, and
the policies and practices of the agency and he has shared this experience with
his former agency in an effort to increase cooperation and coordination with
other Law Enforcement Agencies in the Criminal Justice System.
Eric C. Larson
Wheeling (IL) Police Department
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