Stellar assessment places Evesham Township Police Department among the top 1 percent of U.S. law enforcement agencies for professionalism and organization excellence.
Chief Christopher Chew announced that the Evesham Township Police Department has earned reaccreditation by the prestigious Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), considered to be the gold standard in public safety. The department was awarded reaccreditation after a formal hearing on Nov. 22 in Albuquerque, NJ.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment by our police department,” Chew said. “Being reaccredited by CALEA reaffirms the professionalism and standard of excellence throughout our organization.”
CALEA accreditation is a voluntary process that requires accredited agencies to submit annual reports showing compliance with the program’s standards. Agencies are required to a mandatory review every three years, a process that includes an in-depth on-site assessment, community input and a formal hearing before a panel of commissioners.
In August, an assessment team from CALEA spent multiple days at ETPD and in the Evesham community conducting interviews with department staff, elected officials and community members.
The CALEA assessment team leader B.A. Murphy noted the following:
“Evesham Township Police Department is a Community-Centric law enforcement agency,” Murphy said. “The resources the agency invests on community-based activities are returned 10-fold in support and a sense of pride and well-being by community members. The agency enjoys an excellent relationship and professional reputation within the New Jersey law enforcement community. On multiple occasions, the same comment was offered about the agency’s policies being used as a benchmark for the state of New Jersey. The team would concur that the polices are perhaps some of the finest that they had the pleasure to work with during a CALEA on-site”
The reaccreditation process required compliance with nearly 500 standards measured in exacting detail by a commission of independent assessors. Only one percent of all agencies in the United States achieve CALEA accreditation, and Evesham PD is only one of nine municipal police departments to receive this prestigious award in the state of New Jersey.
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); and the
- Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
The purpose of CALEA’s Accreditation Program is to improve the delivery of public safety services, primarily by: maintaining a body of standards, developed by public safety practitioners, covering a wide range of up-to-date public safety initiatives; establishing an accreditation process; and recognizing professional excellence.
