Accreditation

Accreditation Years


The Cornelius Police Department (CPD) was first awarded International Accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Incorporated (CALEA) on December 4, 2004. In August of 2007, CPD was re-accredited at the CALEA conference in Colorado Springs, Colorado. CPD was re-accredited for the second time in 2010 and was also recognized as a CALEA Flagship Agency. In 2013, the Cornelius Police Department was re-accredited a third time in Winston Salem, North Carolina where it was awarded Accreditation with Excellence under CALEA’s new Gold Standard Assessment. - 2013 Assessment Report. The Cornelius Police Department gets re-accredited every four years. The 2016 accreditation took place in Charleston, South Carolina. -2016 Assessment Report. The last accreditation was in 2020. -2020 Assessment Report.

The next onsite assessment will take place in 2024.
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Accreditation Process


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.

Accreditation Benefits

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

About the Program

The CALEA accreditation program is a departmental-wide function, and is overseen by the Police Major. 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.