The Cornelius Police Department was first awarded international accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) on December 4, 2004.  In August of 2007, CPD was reaccredited at the CALEA conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. CPD is scheduled to seek reaccreditation for the third time in 2010.

The accreditation process involves a complete review of Departmental standards and, more importantly, compliance with those standards. This review is conducted by independent experts in the field of law enforcement who are brought in from all over the United States. The auditors also spend time riding with officers to ensure their understanding and knowledge of the CALEA process, and they also reach out to the community to see how well we live up to the spirit of the process in the community.

The CALEA accreditation program is a Departmental-wide function, and is overseen by the Support Services Division Commander. It is the responsibility of every member of the Police Department to complete their tasks in accordance with the Department’s policy.  Various compliance reports are assigned to different supervisory personnel within the Department.  These reports include analysis, summaries, and evaluations that must be done on a time-sensitive schedule.  The Accreditation Manager ensures these reports are completed and then maintains the files of corresponding standards.

Maintaining our accreditation requires a serious commitment of energy from the members of the Police Department as well as the Town administration, but brings with it many benefits. Some of these benefits include:

1. Ensures a sense of well being and safety in the hearts and minds of the community.
2. Provides dollars and cents return on liability insurance coverage.
3. Makes the jurisdiction more attractive to economic and community development.
4. Assures government leaders of law enforcement quality.
5. Provides international recognition and a venue for employee pride and morale.
6. Gives agency the ability to analyze its delivery of services; measure its culpability; administer consistent discipline; and insulate against civil litigation.
7. Provides assurance that the organization is trained and functioning in line with policies and procedures.
8. Ensures that policies and procedures are solidly documented in writing.
9. Reinforces confidences that the agency is operating at an acceptable level of standards for the profession.
10. Facilitates a solid review of the agency’s status and readiness.