Press Release
On Tuesday, January 18th, Charleston County Council honored Consolidated 911 Center staff for receiving national reaccreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) in the Communications program. This award, presented in November, comes after a multi-year self-assessment phase and a meticulous site-based assessment of community engagement, policy, procedures, equipment, and facilities by CALEA assessors. This is the Center's third national accreditation award.
“Accreditations like this allow us to see where our agency stands on a national level and show the public how hard we are working to provide excellent service to our residents,” said Consolidated 9-1-1 Center Director Jim Lake.
The purpose of CALEA is to develop standards based on international best practices in public safety and to establish and administer the accreditation process. The accreditation process is how a public safety agency voluntarily demonstrates how it meets professionally recognized criteria for excellence in management and service delivery.
“This award of accreditation does not come easy,” said CALEA President Anthony Purcell, chief of police at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Police Department. “Agencies must go through a rigorous review and evaluation of their organization and then implement the necessary policy and procedure changes. The process does not stop at that point. By voluntarily choosing to seek CALEA accreditation, the agency commits to an ongoing review of adherence to CALEA's standards. Each community with CALEA accredited agencies should feel confident that their public safety organization is going above and beyond and operating under the highest standards in public safety.”
CALEA was created in 1979 as a credentialing authority through the joint efforts of law enforcement’s major executive associations: International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP); National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE); National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA); and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
