WEST VALLEY CITY — After 3 ½ years, the West Valley City Police Department has received national accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.
National accreditation is considered to be the “gold standard” in law enforcement and is a distinction held by fewer than 5 percent of police departments nationwide.
West Valley Police Chief Lee Russo set the police department on the path to accreditation shortly after he was appointed to the force in August 2013. Russo wanted a department that was transparent, had an open dialogue with the community and operated under the best practices of law enforcement. He determined that securing the accreditation was the best way for the department to look critically at itself in an effort to meet those goals.
“Aligning the department’s operations and policies with CALEA standards is a painstaking and intensive process requiring a critical review of the entire police department,” Russo said in a statement. “It represents our commitment now, and our commitment long into the future, that this city’s police department is committed to continual improvement and best practices in all that we do.”
As part of the accreditation process, the department was required to demonstrate its compliance with 159 comprehensive “best practices” standards governing all facets of operations, including internal and public transparency and accountability.
Accredited agencies must submit themselves again for an independent audit every three years, so police departments must constantly work to improve themselves.