Celebrating the Charles County Sheriff’s Office’s CALEA Re-Accreditation are, from left to right, CALEA Executive Director Sylvester Daughtry Jr., Charles County Commissioner Sam Graves, Capt. Robert Cleaveland, Major Joe Montminy, Lou Schmidt, Major Buddy Gibson and Commission Chair James O’Dell.
LA PLATA, Md. (Dec. 4, 2007)—The Charles County Sheriff’s Office continues to satisfactorily meet the hundreds of standards set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., (CALEA) and was reaccredited for the second time at a ceremony held Nov. 17 in Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Commission made its decision after a team of CALEA assessors spent three days in August conducting an on-site review of the Sheriff’s Office’s policies and procedures, management, operations and support services. As part of the on-site process, the assessors visited Headquarters, the district stations in La Plata, Indian Head and Waldorf, the Emergency Services Center and the Community Services and Property Management facility. They also rode-along with officers, conducted a public information session where members of the community were invited to comment, reviewed written materials, interviewed individuals and visited offices where standard compliance could be witnessed.
“CALEA formally recognizes our efforts to provide effective and professional law enforcement services to the citizens of Charles County,” said Sheriff Rex Coffey in a statement.
Major Joe Montminy, assistant sheriff of operations, Major Buddy Gibson, assistant sheriff of administration, Capt. Rob Cleaveland, commander of the Executive Services Division, and Lou Schmidt, manager of the Planning and Accreditation Section, accepted the reaccreditation award on the Agency’s behalf. Charles County Commissioner Sam Graves, a retired Sheriff’s Office captain, also attended the ceremony. Sheriff Coffey was unable to attend the CALEA conference.
The Sheriff’s Office first earned CALEA accreditation in 2001 and was re-accredited after an audit in 2004. The Commission reassesses each agency it awards accreditation to every three years and in the meantime, accredited agencies must regularly submit annual reports that attest to continued compliance with CALEA standards. Because CALEA evaluates continuing processes and management techniques, it determines that law enforcement agencies continuously provide excellent service to their communities.
The CALEA assessors included team leader Virgil Young, a retired special agent in charge of the Knoxville, Tenn., office of the FBI, Capt. Klint Anderson of the Weber County Sheriff’s Office in Ogden, Utah and Chief Deputy Timothy Albin of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office in Tulsa, Okla.
CALEA (www.calea.org) currently has accredited agencies in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Barbados in the Caribbean.