Agency Seeks National Accreditation with CALEA

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Police Department Seeks National Accreditation with Prestigious Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies

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The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) was founded in 1979 by a grant authorized by the United States Department of Justice which enabled the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriff’s Association, and the Police Executive Research Forum to develop the highest standards of excellence for law enforcement agencies in the United States.

The CALEA standards are designed to increase the professionalism of law enforcement agencies in the following areas:

  • Public safety agency capabilities to maintain law and order;
  • Agency effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of public safety services;
  • Cooperation and coordination with other public safety agencies, and with other agencies in the criminal justice system, and
  • Citizen and employee confidence in the goals, objectives, policies, and practices of the agency

On October 15, 2014, the Fairfax County Police Department began its self-assessment to demonstrate compliance with 482 national standards. The police department anticipates an on-site assessment of full compliance to be conducted by national assessors from CALEA in 2016.

The police department will continue to maintain its accreditation with the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission (VLEPSC) which is a state accrediting body, while seeking national accreditation.

The Fairfax County Police Department was one of the first major city agencies to be accredited by CALEA in the 1980’s. During the 1990’s, the agency was the first law enforcement agency accredited by VLEPSC, and at that time the department pursued only state accreditation.

“We look forward to the renewal of our partnership with CALEA as only a few law enforcement agencies across the nation have subjected themselves to dual-accreditation processes. Our goal is to demonstrate to our community that their police department continues to be progressive and innovative by allowing ourselves to be benchmarked against best practices for our profession within our state and nationally,” said Colonel Edwin C. Roessler, Jr., Chief of the Fairfax County Police Department.

Learn more about national and state accreditation at http://www.calea.org/ and http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/accred/.