Program Requirements & Assessors - Commision for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc.

THE PROCESS

An agency must apply to the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation to participate in the accreditation process.

The agency will be required to demonstrate compliance with all mandatory standards and not less than 80% of non-mandatory standards.

Proof of compliance with the standards is determined by an assessment team sent by the Commission, conducting an on-site review of the agency's own policies, procedures and practices.

Assistance is available from the Commission in the form of sample policies, consultation with accredited agencies, and informal peer evaluation.

Agencies will remain accredited for a period of three years. After the three year period they must be reaccredited.

FULL COMPLIANCE:

An agency who is not currently accredited through CALEA will be considered a full compliance agency. The agency will be required to demonstrate compliance with all mandatory standards and not less than 80% of other-than-mandatory standards.

COMPARATIVE COMPLIANCE:

The Florida accreditation program recognizes the national program, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Florida agencies that are currently accredited by CALEA will not be required to build a separate set of files for any standards that are comparable to the state standards that have been already prepared for, and approved by, CALEA assessors. Florida accreditation assessors will check only those CALEA files that are necessary as directed by the Executive Director during the on-site.

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APPLYING TO THE COMMISSION

Agencies must apply to the Commission in order to participate in the state accreditation process. Follow this link to find your program manager, and then you will have the option of either applying online electronically or printing an application to mail in.

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THE COST OF ACCREDITATION AND REACCREDITATION
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The following fee structure has been established for both accreditation and reaccreditation:

NUMBER OF SWORN POSITIONS	FULL COMPLIANCE FEE	COMPARATIVE COMPLIANCE FEE
9 or less	Donation	Donation
10 - 24	$500.00	$300.00
25 - 99	$1,000.00	$600.00
100 - 299	$2,000.00	$1,200.00
300 - 499	$3,000.00	$1,800.00
Over 500	$4,000.00	$2,400.00

The fee is based on the number of authorized full time sworn law enforcement personnel who are acting in a law enforcement capacity. The fee is not based on non-sworn, corrections-sworn, or law enforcement certified personnel serving in a corrections position.

Accreditation Manager^� software, designed specifically to assist Accreditation Managers in tracking their progress, is available from the Commission. Accreditation Manager^� tracks written documentation used for compliance in each Standard file, tracks and prints supporting documentation lists to prove Standard compliance, tracks management reports, eliminates manual file searching and generates forms that can be completed in half the time.

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ASSESSORS
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Commission assessors serve the Commission on a voluntary basis as representatives of their agencies. Assessors are on-site representatives of the Commission to the agency seeking accreditation, to the employees of the agency, and to the citizens residing in the agency�s service area. At all times, the assessor-agency relationship must be professional, fostering a nonadversarial climate. As the "eyes and ears" of the Commission, assessors report the findings of the team concerning the agency�s ability to comply with the requisite number of standards.

In addition to their on-site assessment tasks, assessors and team leaders have a responsibility to the law enforcement community. Assessors are expected to exemplify the highest levels of professionalism in law enforcement at all times, by remaining objective and impartial.

In order to be selected as an assessor, an assessor application must be on file with the Commission with proof of assessor training.