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ACCREDITATION WORKS Case Number 45
The department’s legal counsel argued that the alleged allegations would be a violation of 42 U.S.C.§ 1983, and the lawsuit was moved to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. This would have been a violation of the plaintiff’s substantive due process rights, guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and, under Iowa state law, a discharge in violation of public policy. The case then proceeded at the federal level.
As is the case in civil litigation, an enormous volume of paper began to shuffle back and forth between the police department and our legal counsel. One of the first things we provided was a complete copy of our policy and procedure manual, as well as a copy of the CALEA Standards Manual. Our attorney immediately realized that the largest part of the department’s defense would be directly related to our written policies and procedures, and how they were applied throughout the agency.
Next came the customary interrogatories and depositions. I cannot count the number of times the word “accreditation” was used during both of these processes. I relied upon, and was questioned extensively on a number of areas relevant to CALEA Standards. Chapter 61-Traffic, Chapter 33-Training and Career Development, and Chapter 34-Promotion, played an important role in our agency’s defense. According to our attorney, my answers to deposition questions, based on our agency’s compliance with CALEA Standards, were influential in counteracting the allegations against the department. For example, because we were in compliance with the CALEA Standards dealing with training, as well as training records retention, we were able to present a chronological and easily-understood record of the entire field training process and to make available the written documentation related to all the different components of the process.
However, in my estimation, as well as our attorney’s, Chapter 35-Performance Evaluation was perhaps the most critical in our defense of our remediation practices for sub-standard employee performance. One of the most important issues revolved around the manner in which employee evaluations are structured and conducted. The records we were able to provide regarding the evaluation process and the role of both the evaluator and employee were extremely valuable in order for the department to show that the employee’s deficiencies were identified, recorded, and discussed and remediation methods were suggested and agreed upon. During this entire process, it became very obvious that records maintenance, in all areas of operation, as required under CALEA Standards, was the most important aspect in this agency’s defense of these allegations.
On March 11, 2003, more than two years after the suit was filed, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa entered a summary judgment in favor of the Muscatine Police Department and the City of Muscatine, Iowa. The plaintiff appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and on March 18, 2004, it affirmed the District Court’s grant of summary judgment to the City and the Police Department.
This entire episode illustrates clearly that “Accreditation Works.” If this department had been involved in this exact situation prior to its entering into the accreditation process, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind, including the department’s attorneys, that the outcome could have been much different. The ability to call upon solid, reasonable, and nationally recognized standards is invaluable in situations such as this. Each time I was asked, “What criteria was used to formulate this policy?”, the answer was always the same. “The criteria that is outlined by the standards established by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.”
It is my true belief that CALEA encourages good policing, not merely skills or particular techniques. Accreditation is an attitude. If properly reinforced and nurtured, this attitude instills, at every level of an organization, a desire for personal, as well as organizational excellence. Effective law enforcement service should be rooted in respect for individual rights, as well as citizen access to, and input in the manner in which their law enforcement agency delivers those services. Unfortunately, most law enforcement agencies have rarely managed themselves to practice the pluralism they preach. Accreditation is the way for well-managed police agencies to change that.
Gary R. Coderoni, Chief of Police Muscatine (IA) Police Department
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