Chief Scott LaChasse, of the Burbank Police Department, announced that the Department has been awarded the Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). This coveted award is considered the highest standard of excellence in law enforcement. With this accreditation, the Burbank Police Department becomes the second municipal law enforcement agency in Los Angeles County to be accredited and joins an elite class of accredited law enforcement agencies that represent less than three percent of all law enforcement agencies in the country.
CALEA accreditation represents a significant professional achievement but more importantly, it represents the Department’s commitment to self-improvement and providing excellent service to the community. The CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation requires compliance with a comprehensive set of over 480 standards that reflect the current thinking and experience of law enforcement practitioners and researchers. Since the first accreditation award in 1984, the program has become the primary formal method for an agency to voluntarily demonstrate their commitment to excellence in law enforcement.
Present in Albuquerque, New Mexico to receive the accreditation award on November 22, 2014, were City Manager Mark Scott, Chief Scott LaChasse, Deputy Chief Tom Angel, Captain Ron Caruso, and the Department’s Accreditation Manager Lieutenant Armen Dermenjian. During the Agency Review Hearing, Commissioner Webre complimented Chief LaChasse on the Department’s workforce demographics as representing the community’s demographics as “perfectly as he has seen.” He also recognized that the information reported by the Department about its critical incidents was consistent with industry standards and commented, “It gives me the confidence that you truly were forthright, objective, and embraced the process.”
Chief LaChasse attributes the success in achieving CALEA Accreditation to the professionalism and perseverance of all Burbank Police Department personnel as well as to the active support of the City Council and the City Manager. By achieving the “Gold Standard in Public Safety,” the Burbank Police Department has certainly demonstrated its commitment to transparency, constitutional policing, service excellence, and continuous improvement, according to Chief LaChasse.
CALEA accreditation is an ongoing process and requires reaccreditation every three years.
