What is it?

The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (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)
• Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)

It was originally developed to address what was seen as a need to enhance law enforcement as a profession and to improve law enforcement. That mission continues today, it provides an opportunity to voluntarily meet an established set of professional standards including:

• Comprehensive and uniform written directives that clearly define authority, performance, and responsibilities
• Reports and analyses to make fact-based and informed management decisions.
• Preparedness to address natural or man-made critical incidents
• Community relationship-building and maintenance
• Independent review by subject matter experts
• Continuous pursuit of excellence through annual reviews and other assessment measures ²

 ²CALEA® : The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (2020, May 26). Retrieved

Awards

The Hurst Police Department gained its first accreditation in 1990 and re-accreditation in 1995 and 2000. Starting in 2003, the accreditation process changed to a 3-year process. The Hurst Police Department has been re-accredited 8 times since 1990. After the agency’s 9^th Accreditation Award in 2018,  the assessment process changed to a 4-year process. The agency must maintain compliance with applicable standards, keep proofs of compliance up-to-date, and live by the letter and spirit of those standards.

To retain its accreditation status, the agency is required to submit to CALEA annual CALEA Agency Status Reports. A remote web-based assessment is conducted annually to determine continued compliance with the standards.  The reports from each annual remote web-based assessment will be incorporated into the assessment report and presented to the Commission. At the conclusion of the 4-year period, an On-Site Assessment will be conducted to determine whether the agency is complying with standards primarily though observations and interactions with agency personnel and the public. In March 2022, an On-Site Assessment was conducted and the results forwarded to CALEA. In July 2022, the agency went before the CALEA Commission and received its 10th Accreditation Award.

The Hurst Police Department elects to participate in the Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation Program and received the Certificate of Meritorious Accreditation for having been accredited for 15 or more continuous years.

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 by clicking here. 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 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 acknowledgement to submissions; however, the information will be considered in context to its relevancy to compliance with standards and the tenets of CALEA® Accreditation.

For more information on the accreditation process, please contact Kenya Meza at 817.788.7131.