Frequently Asked Questions

Who accredits law enforcement agencies?

The national organization that accredits law enforcement agencies is the Commission on the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (www.calea.org). Several states, including Florida, New York, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin have their own accreditation programs that offer an alternative to national accreditation.

What is the difference between State and National Accreditation?  Do I need to have both?

The principle differences are the number of standards, what issues/functions those standards address and the fees. CALEA is the recognized entity that accredits law enforcement agencies on a national and international basis. Some states have their own accreditation commissions. However, if you don’t live in one of these states (Florida, New York, Virginia, etc.) this option is not open to your agency. Do you need to have both? The answer is no. However, if you obtain CALEA accreditation, you can obtain “comparative compliance” with most state accreditation commissions with little effort and expense. The status and prestige of having both assures your community that you are a leader in your profession.

We are a small agency with few resources.  The cost of becoming an accredited agency seems high, when considering the benefits vs. cost involved.  What alternatives do we have?  Will we need to designate one of our officers as a full time accreditation manager?

Small agencies face this problem when they attempt to tackle accreditation. It is time consuming and a drain on personnel resources that they simply don’t have. It also requires time, training, expertise and most of all commitment by everyone in the agency. Every agency needs to appoint an accreditation project manager, however, that can be a sworn or a non-sworn member and they can be assigned full-time or part-time to the project. (Please see below for much more detail on this).

The alternative that works and is cost effective is to retain a consulting firm with direct accreditation experience and let them manage and guide you through the process.

What does it cost to become accredited? 

The fees charged by CALEA are based upon the size of the law enforcement agency. Fees charged by states offering accreditation are also based on the size of the agency.

How long does accreditation take?

CALEA usually advises agencies to plan on a 36-month cycle to complete the agency profile questionnaire, application, self-assessment and on-site assessment. State agencies vary from 24-months to 36-months. It is important to remember that the “clock” on the time limits does not start until your agency and the accrediting entity sign the contract.

How many standards are there? How many apply to my agency?

There are 444 CALEA standards. How many and which ones apply to your agency is determined by CALEA based on the size of your agency and the functions/services that your agency provides to your community.  CALEA bases this upon the information that is submitted to them on your Agency Profile Questionnaire (APQ). State standards vary by state.

How long does it take to train an accreditation project manager?

There is no set time frame, but our experience over the last 16 years has shown us it takes anywhere from 9-12 months before a sworn employee truly becomes comfortable with the accreditation process and begins to understand how written directives must be developed or revised, file construction, file organization, standards interpretation, what constitutes proof of compliance and more importantly, how to prepare the entire agency for accreditation.

What if we want to use a non-sworn employee as our accreditation project manager?

Many agencies have chosen to use non-sworn employees as accreditation project managers. There are many successful non-sworn accreditation project managers and this is certainly a valid choice for many agencies to make for a variety of good reasons. One trait that all of the successful non-sworn project managers have in common is that they all had a background in law enforcement.

Our experience has shown us that if you elect to use a non-sworn employee as your accreditation project manager, you should seek someone who has a background in law enforcement who brings an understanding of police procedures, tactics and the law as they relate to your policies and procedures and how they interact with the standards. Our experience has shown us that persons who do not have a law enforcement background tend to take 2 to 3 times longer to become comfortable with the process simply because they have to learn police procedures first before they can understand how to apply them to the accreditation process.

How long is accreditation good for?

CALEA accreditation is good for three years. This applies to full accreditation as well as the Public Safety Communications, Training Academy, Recognition and Alliance programs. After initial accreditation, the agency is subject to reaccreditation, which requires the agency provide documented proofs of compliance for each of the three years it has been accredited and confirmation by an on-site by assessors before the end of the three years. Most state accreditation commissions follow with the same three-year cycle. 

Is reaccreditation any different than initial accreditation?

YES! The majority of agencies who fail in the accreditation process or drop out do so at this point. Why does this occur? There are a variety of reasons and each agency is unique and has its own set of issues. However, our experience has shown us that agencies tend to think that once they have received accreditation, the process is over when in actuality, it has just begun. Some common mistakes we have found is that many agencies transfer employees who have just learned the process out of accreditation to other assignments, as they believe the project has been completed or the employees are "burned out". They then place employees in the accreditation function who are inexperienced in accreditation and therefore, have no understanding of the process. They then spend the next year or so learning the process, rather than preparing the agency for reaccreditation. 

But the most common issue we have seen is that agencies don’t commit themselves to the process and live accreditation every day by implementing administrative reporting and staff inspections systems that ensure the agency is creating and documenting the accreditation files that are required to be maintained for each year. This includes the time sensitive and other required reports, plans or analyses as required by the agency's own policies and procedures as well as standards. 

What is a written directive?

For the purposes of accreditation, a written directive is any written document used to guide or affect the performance or conduct of agency employees. The term written directive is used for and includes policies, procedures, rules and regulations, general orders, special orders, memorandums, and instructional material. Most departments have operations manuals, policy and procedures manuals, SOP's, general or special orders which comprise their written directive system.

Will we have to rewrite our Department Manual, SOP’s or General Orders?

This depends upon how recent and how comprehensive your agency’s written directive system is and how it conforms with the standards. It has been our experience that the vast majority of agencies who seek accreditation must first rewrite or revise their existing written directives (SOP’s, general orders, etc.) in order to bring them into compliance with CALEA standards.

This is the major hurdle an agency has to overcome in the accreditation process. There is much more to rewriting an agency’s manual than copying someone else’s who is already accredited. Rewriting an agency manual is a significant task to undertake and it requires considerable resources, both manpower and money. Moreover, it requires a level expertise in police procedures, writing policies and procedures and a complete and thorough understanding of the CALEA standards. Unfortunately, this level of expertise simply does not exist in most agencies. If you ask any agency that has successfully achieved accreditation what was the biggest obstacle to overcome, they will tell you the hardest, most expensive, most time consuming and most problem-plagued part was the rewriting or revising their agency's policies and procedures. 

My agency has been working on accreditation and we are preparing for a CALEA on-site.  Why should we pay for a MOCK assessment when neighboring law enforcement agencies have volunteered to assist us?

If you believe that you can obtain the assistance of a neighboring agency and they possess the same level of experience and expertise that our firm does, then by all means take advantage of their kind offer. However, most agencies accreditation units simply do not possess a level of expertise that we do. More than likely, none of your neighbors are trained and experienced CALEA assessors. If this is the case, while they can and will be helpful, our experience has shown us that this will not give your agency the MOCK it needs to be completely ready for your on-site. There is much more to a MOCK than looking at files and making suggestions about highlighting or what proof goes where. The entire agency has to be prepared and unless you have a neighbor that is a trained assessor with years and years of experience, you are going to be unpleasantly surprised at your on-site when you find out they didn't bring to your attention many of the issues that your on-site team does.

Just how extensive are your consultation services involving accreditation?  Do they cover all phases of the process?  Must I contract for all the services or may I select specific services?

Our firm can provide varying levels of services from complete management of the accreditation process to selected parts of it, such as conducting a MOCK on-site, helping you prepare directives, etc. We are very flexible in the services we offer. Please contact us and let us provide you with a free consultation and advise you about how we can tailor our services to your needs.

What is CALEA’s position on agencies using paid consultants to assist with the process?  What impact will using paid consultants have on my agency’s review by the Commission?

We can’t speak for CALEA, but we can tell you that they have been very accepting of our firm's services because of our years of commitment to CALEA, our professionalism and proven expertise. Our work product speaks for itself. Every agency we have worked with has achieved accreditation and/or reaccrediation. The on-site assessments reports by CALEA speak for themselves and the professional work that we do.

For this reason, we have received very favorably feedback from both the staff and the Commission when we have represented an agency during the process.

What other expenses can an agency expect during the accreditation process?

As with any program in a law enforcement agency, there needs to be a budget that plans for all of the costs associated with the accreditation process. The first to consider is the accreditation fee. This is determined by the size of your agency. As an example, the CALEA fee for a law enforcement agency of under 199 sworn personnel is $7,650. The fees must be paid every three years and are subject to change.

The second cost to consider, and the largest, will be personnel costs. These costs will vary greatly as they are direct reflection of how many employees are assigned to the process and their status (sworn or non-sworn). The average agency usually has an accreditation project manager and an administrative support employee assigned to the process. On the average, you can expect this will cost well over $100,000 a year in salaries and benefits. This does not include the loss of services of sworn officers and/or any new officers that are hired to replace them and/or any additional part time help you may give to this unit.

The third cost to consider are the expenses related to traveling to CALEA conferences. CALEA holds its conferences three times a year in cities throughout the country. These conferences are a must for those agencies entering the process and will be a continuing expense the entire time your agency is accredited. We advise agencies to budget a minimum of $10,000 for the three-year period.

The fourth cost to consider is the revising or rewriting of your written directives. This can be a major cost particularly if your entire written directive system must be rewritten to comply with the standards. It is not unusual for an agency to spend $20,000 or more on this task. You elect to digitize your manual on a computer network that all employees have access to or you can provide CD ROMs to individual employees or a combination of network and individual issue or you may elect to print the traditional Manual type notebooks or a combination of digital and hard bound.

The fifth cost to consider is the costs of office equipment and supplies. This is often overlooked. We advise agencies to set aside at least $6,000 to $7,000 over the course of the three years for file cabinets, files, paper, copy costs, printing, and the other necessary office supplies that are needed for the process.

The sixth and last expense that needs to be budgeted for are the costs associated with your on-site. The costs of an on-site vary greatly depending upon where your agency is located, how much the airline fares cost at the time they are purchased and the costs of lodging in your community. Generally speaking, an on-site can cost from $8,000 to $12,000, depending on the number of assessors needed, airfare costs and lodging expenses. And don't forget that you need to include the costs to your agency for such things as your static display and any associated overtime costs you might incur during the on-site. 

The average agency will spend well over $300,000 to become accredited. Contact Law Enforcement Accreditation Consultants, Inc. and let us show you how we can cut the costs of you becoming accredited by more than HALF! We guarantee it!!

Contact Law Enforcement Accreditation Consultants, Inc. and let us assist you in determining the best accreditation program for your agency.  We have never had a client fail to achieve accreditation or reaccredidation when they have used us as their consultants! Click here to request a free consultation.