Fredericksburg Police Department Passes National Accreditation Review

• By: VACP
• On: 02/03/2021 14:02:06
• In: Virginia News

As part of the Fredericksburg Police Department's commitment to providing high-quality service to the City of Fredericksburg, the Department went through and passed a rigorous accreditation review in December 2020. During the review, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), which sets the gold standard and best practices in public safety, assigned a Compliance Service Member to review 25% of the police department's policies. During their review, the Service Member determines compliance with CALEA national standards as set forth by the Commission. The Fredericksburg Police Department successfully passed the review, which included reviewing use of force, training, and duty to intervene for both sworn and civilian employees. The Fredericksburg Police Department's policies and procedures were thoroughly vetted by the Compliance Service Member and passed the mark for complying with current best practices set forth by CALEA.

The Fredericksburg Police Department continues to strive for Advanced Accreditation through CALEA, which includes complying with 459 CALEA standards as opposed to Tier 1 Accreditation, which only requires 181 standards.

This past accreditation process was challenging for the men and women of the Fredericksburg Police Department due to the global pandemic and civil unrest that affected their community. Employees worked strenuously to meet the accreditation review deadline while also working tirelessly to keep the City safe. Despite the challenges, the men and women of the Department persevered to meet the deadline while continuing to deliver outstanding service to the City of Fredericksburg. The Department will continue to strive to be leaders in their profession and a model for other agencies in the Commonwealth.

The Fredericksburg Police Department first received accreditation in 2009 and, out of 340 law enforcement agencies in Virginia, only 34 agencies are CALEA accredited.