The Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (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 Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The CALEA Accreditation program seals are reserved for use by public safety agencies that have demonstrated compliance with CALEA Standards and have been awarded a CALEA Accreditation by the Commission.

 

The University of Florida Police Department was first accredited by CALEA in 1996 and since then has maintained compliance with that accreditation body. In addition to accreditation by CALEA, UFPD also holds accreditations through the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc., the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, and the Florida Telecommunications Accreditation Commission (FLA-TAC).

 

The department will seek reaccreditation and undergo a full assessment by CALEA in late 2024. During this process, assessors from CALEA will be onsite and able to meet with members of the campus community to determine UFPD’s ongoing compliance and status with the commission’s accreditation standards.

 

The overall intent of CALEA’s accreditation process is to provide the participating agency with information to support continuous improvement, as well as foster the pursuit of professional excellence. In that spirit, CALEA created a public portal to receive comments regarding an agency’s compliance with CALEA standards, engagement in the service community, delivery of public safety services, and overall candidacy for accredited status. Members of the campus community are encouraged to share their thoughts, which can be submitted in the form of commendations or concerns, through the portal.

 

We, at the University of Florida Police Department, hold our police officers and civilian staff to the values of our department: justice, professionalism, trust, service, and integrity. In addition, we value transparency. We provide members of the public full access to UFPD Directives online under the transparency section of the department’s website. The transparency section of our website also holds a direct link to CALEA’s public comment portal. Members of the public who wish to submit comments can also access the portal by directly visiting CALEA’s website.

 

IMPORTANT: CALEA is not an investigatory body and subsequently the public portal should not be used to submit information for such purposes.  Additionally, there will be no response other than acknowledgment to submissions; however, the information will be considered in context to its relevancy to compliance with standards and the tenets of CALEA® Accreditation.