CALEA Accreditation
Accreditation
The Isle of Palms Police Department is accredited through CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement. The Department was initially awarded accreditation on March 23, 2002. The Department received its first re-accreditation on March 19, 2005 in Birmingham, Alabama and received its second re-accreditation on March 8, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. The department received its third re-accreditation on March 26, 2011 in Bethesda, Maryland. The department received its 4th re-accreditation on March 22, 2014 in Garden City, California.
On March 25, 2017 in Mobile, Alabama, the department received its 5th re-accreditation award. During this conference, the department also received a Meritorious Award for being an accredited agency for fifteen consecutive years. Also, Chief Buckhannon was awarded the Egon Bittner Award for being in command of an accredited agency for fifteen or more continuous years. Accreditation represents a significant professional achievement.
Accreditation acknowledges the implementation of policies and procedures that are conceptually sound and operationally effective. The foundation of Accreditation lies in the promulgation of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives. Participating agencies conduct a thorough self-analysis to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet these objectives. When the procedures are in place, a team of trained assessors verifies that applicable standards have been successfully implemented. The process culminates with a decision by the CALEA that the agency has met the requirements for Accreditation.
CALEA Public Comment Portal
Anyone wishing to provide comments regarding our agency's compliance with CALEA standards, engagement in the service community, delivery of public safety services, and overall candidacy for accredited status, may provide comments to CALEA through the following Public Comment Portal. These comments can be in the form of commendations or concerns. The overall intent of the accreditation process is to provide our agency with information to support continuous improvement, as well as foster the pursuit of professional excellence.
IMPORTANT: CALEA is not an investigatory body and subsequently the public portal should not be used to submit information for such purposes. Additionally, there will be no response other than acknowledgment of submissions; however, the information will be considered in context to its relevancy to compliance with standards and the tenets of CALEA® Accreditation.