In March, the Colorado State Patrol was accredited again by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc., (CALEA) the gold standard for accrediting law enforcement in the United States and many other countries.
This honor places the Colorado State Patrol in rare company, as the agency actually received three accreditations at one time. Known as the CALEA TRI-ARC award, this honor it is given to an organization that has concurrent CALEA accreditation for their law enforcement, public safety communications and public safety training agencies.
This three-part achievement is rare with only 26 agencies having ever achieved the TRI-ARC Award and only five of those being state agencies. In addition, one of the accreditations, the Colorado State Patrol’s Training Academy, is the only CALEA accredited academy in the State of Colorado.
“The Colorado State Patrol holds ourselves to a very high standard because we know that is what the public deserves and expects from their law enforcement community,” stated Matthew C. Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “We’re proud to be accredited and remain committed to the ongoing review of adherence to CALEA’s standards. We want our community to know we are operating under the highest standards of public safety.”
The Colorado State Patrol has been law enforcement accredited since March 2015 and earned its first TRI-ARC certification in March 2018. This second award demonstrates consistency in their practices and standards. Maintaining "accredited status" is an on-going project for all accredited law enforcement agencies and requires constant monitoring and periodic updating of policies and procedures to ensure compliance with internationally accepted law enforcement accreditation standards.
CALEA was created in 1979. For more about the organization and the process and benefits of accreditation, visit calea.org.