A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., will arrive March 20, 2016 to examine all aspects of the Dubuque Police Department’s policy and procedures, management, operations and support services.
Verification by the team that the Dubuque Police Department meets the Commission’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain advanced law enforcement re-accreditation, a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence, he said. The agency was originally accredited on July 31, 1993, and received the Meritorious Accreditation Award in 2010 and 2013. This is the agency’s seventh re-accreditation on-site.
As part of the on-site assessment, the public and agency employees are invited to offer comments on the agency’s services and performance at a public information session, Tuesday, March 22, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. The session will be conducted in the 3rd floor auditorium at the Carnage Stout Public Library, Dubuque, Iowa.
If for some reason an individual cannot speak at the public information session but would still like to provide comments to the assessment team, he or she may do so by telephone. The public may call 563-587-3820 on Tuesday, March 22, 2016, between the hours of 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Telephone comments, as well as those made at the public information session, are limited to 10 minutes and must address the agency’s ability to comply with the Commission’s standards. A copy of the standards is available at the police information window in the lobby of the Dubuque Law Enforcement Center. For further information, call Corporal Steve Eastvedt, Accreditation Manager, DLEC, at 563-589-7889.
Persons wishing to offer written comments about the Dubuque Police Department’s ability to comply with the standards for re-accreditation are requested to write: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., 13575 Heathcote Blvd, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155.
The Dubuque Police Department has to comply with 489 standards in order to retain accredited status. Accreditation is an important achievement as it assures citizens and persons dealing with the agency that it is organized and operating consistent with professional standards.
Corporal Eastvedt, the Accreditation Program Manager for the Dubuque Police Department, said the assessment team is composed of law enforcement practitioners from similar, but out-of-state agencies. The assessors will review written materials, conduct interviews, and visit offices and other places where compliance can be assessed. The assessors are: Team Leader (Retired Captain) John V. Garavaglia formerly of the Golden Colorado Police Department and Mr. Edmund Pecinovsky, retired from the California Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training. Once the assessors complete their review of the agency, they report back to the full Commission, which will then decide if the agency is to be granted re-accredited status.
Accreditation status was initially granted for five years, during which time the agency must submit annual reports documenting continued compliance with those standards under which they were initially accredited. Re-accreditation status, if granted, will be for a period of four years. For more information regarding the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, contact: CALEA, 13575 Heathcote Blvd, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155, phone 1-703-352-4225, or at www.calea.org.