Left to Right: Investigator Nancy Harvey (Accreditation Assistant), Captain Wayne Bridges (Accreditation Manager), and Glen Allen (Police Chief) who traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to receive the award.)

The Clayton Police Department is proud to announce the CALEA commissioners unanimously voted to grant accreditation status to the department. This vote on Saturday, November 21st at the 2009 Fall CALEA Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, culminates a nearly three-year effort to raise the professional standards of the agency and moves Clayton PD into the top-tier of all law enforcement agencies. This award is for three years and will require a re-inspection for continuation before the end of 2012.  A team of outside assessors recently visited Clayton and conducted a thorough review of the Police Department August 29 – September 1.

The Clayton Police Department becomes only the 5th municipal agency in the State with fewer than 50 personnel to achieve full law enforcement accreditation, and the first agency in Johnston County.   A total of 39 agencies in North Carolina hold accredited status, including 8 state agencies and 3 sheriff’s departments.  CALEA accreditation is an international honor, with over 700 agencies in 4 countries having earned the award.

The CALEA certification for Clayton PD may also be viewed as a cost-savings measure.  The Town’s insurance provider imparts up to a 20% insurance premium credit on law enforcement liability coverage once CALEA accreditation is achieved.

According to Police Chief Glen Allen, “Earning CALEA Accreditation is a milestone that any law enforcement agency would be proud to achieve.  Accreditation reflects well upon the department and most importantly, highlights the professional standards and skills of all police employees while providing a template for us to bestow enhanced accountability and better service to the Clayton community.

The Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was the first credentialing program established by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) after its founding. It was originally developed to address what was seen as a need to enhance law enforcement as a profession and to improve law enforcement. That mission continues today. The program is open to all types of law enforcement agencies, on an international basis. It provides a process to systematically conduct an internal review and assessment of the agencies’ policies and procedures, and make adjustments wherever necessary to meet a body of internationally accepted standards.

Since the first CALEA Accreditation Award was granted in 1984, the program has become the primary method for an agency to voluntarily demonstrate their commitment to excellence in law enforcement. The standards upon which the Law Enforcement Accreditation Program is based reflect the current thinking and experience of law enforcement practitioners and researchers. Major law enforcement associations, leading educational and training institutions, governmental agencies, as well as law enforcement executives internationally, acknowledge CALEA’s Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies© and its Accreditation Program as benchmarks for today’s professional law enforcement agency.

• CALEA Accreditation requires an agency to develop a comprehensive, well thought out, uniform set of written directives. This is one of the most successful methods for reaching administrative and operational goals, while also providing direction to personnel.
• CALEA Accreditation standards provide the necessary reports and analyses a CEO needs to make fact-based, informed management decisions.
• CALEA Accreditation requires a preparedness program be put in place – so an agency is ready to address natural or man-made unusual occurrences.
• CALEA Accreditation is a means for developing or improving upon an agency’s relationship with the community.
• CALEA Accreditation strengthens an agency’s accountability, both within the agency and the community, through a continuum of standards that clearly define authority, performance, and responsibilities.
• Being CALEA Accredited can limit an agency’s liability and risk exposure because it demonstrates that internationally recognized standards for law enforcement have been met, as verified by a team of independent outside CALEA-trained assessors.
• CALEA Accreditation facilitates an agency’s pursuit of professional excellence.