Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc.
The Iowa State University Department of Public Safety became nationally accredited during March of 1998. Of the nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies in existence within the United States, approximately 600 have received this coveted status.
The accreditation process requires an extensive commitment by all department personnel in the pursuit of excellence as recognized by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Incorporated (CALEA). CALEA is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1979 for the purpose of developing a set of law enforcement standards that would improve the delivery of law enforcement services. Four major law enforcement associations - the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) - combined efforts to develop and review these standards. The 446 standards are designed to:
- Increase the law enforcement agency’s ability to prevent and control crime;
- Increase agency effectiveness and efficiency in delivering law enforcement services;
- Increase cooperation and coordination with other law enforcement agencies and with other agencies of the criminal justice system; and
- Increase citizen and employee confidence in the goals, objectives, policies, and practices of the agency.
The national accreditation process requires the law enforcement agency to comply with applicable standards and to document this compliance for a final on-site review by a CALEA assessment team. The assessment team report is then reviewed at a subsequent CALEA meeting.
On March 21, 2004, the Iowa State University Department of Public Safety was issued the following Certificate of Accreditation, recognizing the department as an accredited law enforcement agency for a period of three years. This was the department’s third consecutive accreditation award.
