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
Announcing CALEA Recognition 2^nd Edition Standards
At the Nashville, Tennessee, CALEA Conference in November 2005, the Standards Review and Interpretation Committee formed a sub-committee for the purpose of reviewing the newly adopted 5^th Edition of the Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies and identifying standards to be included in the CALEA Recognition Program. more

New Commissioners Appointed   
In February 2006, CALEA was pleased to announce the three-year appointment of Rebecca Vigil-Giron, New Mexico’s Secretary of State, as CALEA’s newest Commissioner. The new Commissioner is an 11^th generation New Mexican, born and raised in Taos, New Mexico. She is the highest-ranking elected Hispanic woman state official in the United States. As Secretary of State, she is second in line to succeed the office of Governor and is the Chief Elections Officer in the state.   more

CALEA TRI-ARC Excellence Award Presented
During the March 25, 2006 Celebration Banquet at the Spring CALEA Conference held in Jacksonville, Florida, the CALEA TRI-ARC Excellence Award was presented. The award was created to recognize entities that, concurrently, hold all three CALEA Accreditation Awards: Law Enforcement, Public Safety Communications, and Public Safety Training Academy. more

CASF Grant Recipients Announced
At the 2006 CALEA Spring Conference held in Jacksonville, Florida, the Commission’s CALEA Agency Support Fund (CASF) Committee selected two agencies to be awarded a 2006 CASF Grant. They are    Round Lake Beach (IL) Police Department, led by Chief Douglas E. Larsson, and Strafford County (NH) Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center, led by High Sheriff Wayne M. Estes. more

Commissioner LaFlamme Leaves Board 
The Spring CALEA Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, was the last for Commissioner John D. LaFlamme of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. During the Celebration Banquet, Commissioner LaFlamme gave an emotional, heartfelt good-bye, after twenty years of CALEA involvement, to all his fellow Commissioners and colleagues. more

EXEMPLARY PROJECT-- SO 9001:2000 Quality Management System (QMS)
The Phoenix Police Department’s Records and Identification (R&I) Bureau has developed and implemented a quality management system (QMS) to assist with the documentation, measurement, analysis, and review of the processes utilized by staff members in providing products and services to customers. To develop its system, the R&I Bureau utilized the ISO 9001:2000 international business quality standard, recognized worldwide for promoting operational excellence. more

Law enforcement officers, by virtue of the profession they have chosen, are members of a very noble and elite warrior class. They voluntarily devote their lives to the protection of others, while frequently enduring a negative public image as portrayed by the media. They put their armor on everyday with the understanding that they may be killed or seriously injured while protecting the members of their community; people they most likely have never met. There is nothing nobler a person can choose to do with his or her life. In this tradition, the men and women entering law enforcement can be looked at as our “new warriors.”  more

JACKSONVILLE CONFERENCE REVIEW
With over 850 participants from public safety agencies throughout the United States and Canada, CALEA’s first conference for 2006 in Jacksonville, Florida, was a huge success! Jacksonville, the River City by the Sea, is a rich and vibrant city, with something to offer everyone who visits. Conference attendees had their choice of recreational activities, including visiting the miles of beaches; world-class golf courses; top-of-the-line tennis facilities; popular historical sites; sporting, gaming and cultural activities; nightlife and entertainment venues; and unique riverboat cruises. Wow, that’s a lot to offer! more

 
Click here for a list of agencies accredited, reaccredited, and recognized in Jacksonville, Florida.

Communications Open Channel
Wanda McCarley, President, APCO International
The partnership between APCO International and CALEA continues to grow, as the resources that APCO International can provide to those communications agencies seeking CALEA Accreditation or reaccreditation, also continues to expand. In December 2005, the APCO Institute announced that the Emergency Medical Dispatch class will be added to the list of course offerings available to agencies wishing to co-host an APCO Institute class at their agency.  more

CALEA Staffer Retires
For the past 15 years, when a client called CALEA with questions about their accreditation contract or check on their agency fees, they were greeted with a professional, “May I help you, please?” That was Elaine Conner. She also ordered the wall certificates and the name plates, and was responsible for the accounts receivables invoices, as well as many other duties as Contract Specialist in Administrative Services. more

5^th Edition SLEA Published!
The anxiously awaited 5^th Edition of the Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies is published! Two copies were sent to every client agency in the Law Enforcement Accreditation Program, at no cost to the agency, beginning April 14, 2006. The manual is also available for purchase through the CALEA Online Store (www.calea.org) or ordering by fax or mail.  more

Measuring the Transfer of Learning and Skills to the Job Environment
 Chapter Six of the Standards for Public Safety Training Academies addresses the academy’s instructional systems. Specific areas addressed include instructional design, analysis of training needs, training delivery, development of content and material, and evaluation. The focus of this article will be evaluation, and more specifically, standard 6.6.2 which states, “The academy evaluates the effectiveness of selected training programs and courses by measuring changes in behavior on the job or measuring the transfer of learning and skills to the job environment.”  In 2004, the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training (DOCJT) initiated a new method for complying with this standard. That method utilizes a survey known as the Use of Knowledge survey. more

Your Commissioner -
Robert R. Greenlaw
Commissioner Bob Greenlaw has been involved in public safety activities, professionally and as a volunteer, since he first became a volunteer fire fighter in the Village of Ridgewood, New Jersey in 1967. From 1994 to April 2006, he was Director of Northwest Bergen Central Dispatch in Ridgewood, establishing the first joint municipal public safety dispatch center in northern New Jersey. As Director, he was responsible for coordinating public safety communications for nine northern New Jersey communities.  more

Despite over 30 years of civil rights acts, lawsuits, affirmative action campaigns, and court decrees, women comprise only about 11% of all state, municipal, and county police officers, according to the National Center for Women & Policing (NCWP). In addition to these relatively small gains, there exists a great deal of variation in the percentages of women officers in different types of police agencies. In some large municipal and county agencies women comprise over 20% of all officers, but among state police departments, they are only 5.9% of the sworn personnel. Of more interest to this study was the question, do agencies seeking to gain or retain accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) have a higher percentage of women officers? more

An Announcement to All CALEA Clients Concerning CACE Service Pak 2A
Over the years, client agencies have conveyed the fact that placing a copy of the standard in each assessment file folder was not only time consuming, but burdensome. In response, CALEA has modified a major accreditation process requirement to better assist agencies with the management of their accreditation files. The CALEA Accreditation Compliance Express (CACE) family of software products (CACE-L, CACE-C, CACE-T, and CACE-R) has been expanded. In each CACE Program, the complete CALEA Standard, including the commentary and the levels of compliance, is embedded on every Individual Standard Status Report (ISSR) form. more

Certificates of Meritorious Accreditation Announced
Eight agencies were recognized during the CALEA Conference Celebration Banquet in Jacksonville, Florida, 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 AGENCY PROGRAM
Twelve agencies were recognized at the Jacksonville, Florida, CALEA Conference as a CALEA Flagship Agency. The Flagship Agency program was introduced at the 2004 Winter Conference to acknowledge the achievement and expertise of some of the most successful CALEA Accredited public safety agencies, and also to provide “flagship examples” to assist other agencies. more 

"Accreditation Works" presents first-hand testimonies of how accreditation positively affects an agency or community. These success stories can often go unheralded, so send your experiences to CALEA to be included. more

WELCOME TO CALEA
Between January 1, 2006 and April 30, 2006, the following agencies joined the CALEA family by signing initial Agreements: more