Purpose
CALEA, or the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, was created in 1979 to strengthen crime prevention and control capabilities, improve law enforcement service delivery, and increase community and staff confidence in local police departments. The organization does this by maintaining a body of standards developed by public safety practitioners, covering a wide range of up to date public safety initiatives, and recognizing professional excellence.

Prestigious Certification
The Flower Mound Police Department (FMPD) was awarded one of law enforcement’s most prestigious certifications on March 26, 2011 when the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) honored the agency with Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation.

“The fact that less than ten percent of police departments across the country have received accreditation is a testament to the hard work Captain Richard Brooks, the FMPD command staff, and the entire department put into bringing this honor home to Flower Mound,” said Kenneth Brooker, Flower Mound Police Chief.

Achieving the Standards
Flower Mound is one of only 22 municipal law enforcement agencies in Texas to be honored with the Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation. The accreditation of the FMPD follows almost three years worth of work completed by FMPD personnel to ensure the department’s policies, procedures, and actions are consistent with CALEA standards. The FMPD notified CALEA in June 2008 of its intent to seek accreditation and immediately conducted the initial phase of self-assessment.

Subjects Addressed
CALEA’s standards address nine major law enforcement subjects including:

Auxiliary and technical services Detainee and court-related services Law enforcement operations Operations support Organization, management, and administration

Personnel process Personnel structure Role, responsibilities, and relationships with other agencies Traffic operations

In unanimously awarding accreditation to the FMPD, CALEA officials cited well-defined policies and procedures, the community policing program, the Citizen Public Safety Patrol, and the strength of the department’s employees and their commitment to the community as outstanding attributes.