The Lexington Police Department is undergoing review on national standards as part of the accreditation process. Metro Police was first accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies or CALEA in 1993.
Oklahoma City Police Lieutenant Heather Durham is part of the assessment team. Durham says it takes a significant red flag to lose accreditation. “If we started seeing a pattern or a trend in the complaints. Say we got 50 complaints from citizens that the police department was not reporting use of force, so they were not doing x-y-z that they were supposed to be doing, then that might cause pause and might have us take a deeper look into the department,” said Durham.
Durham said it’s a top to bottom review. She noted the national assessment encompasses more than outside officers’ involvement.
“Not everybody involved in CALEO is a sworn police officer. So, for example the commissioners are split. There’s 21 commissioners, ten are law enforcement the other remaining, 11 are a mixture of local business members, judges, attorneys, people in the community that hold a high standard,” noted Durham.
Durham said accreditation is for four years. Citizens can provide email or written comments to CALEA based out of Gainesville, Virginia. Durham added less than 3% of all law enforcement agencies nationally are accredited.
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