NCJ Number
188459
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2001 Pages: 127-131
Date Published
March 2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study compared accredited and nonaccredited law enforcement agencies with respect to specific agency characteristics.
Abstract
Numerous discussions of police accreditation have occurred since the implementation of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) in the early 1980’s. Unfortunately, most of those works have been merely discussion of accreditation or empirical evaluations of officers’ perceptions on the accreditation process. The present research used secondary data in a cross-sectional design. Data came from the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics for 1993 and covered data for individual State and local police agencies with 100 or more officers (LEMAS) and CALEA’s April 1998 list of accredited agencies. Results revealed five variables that differed significantly in accredited versus nonaccredited agencies. Those variables were field training hours, minimum educational requirements for starting officers, policy for drug testing of sworn police applicants, the operation of a special drug unit, and the operation of a special child abuse unit. Findings supported earlier research revealing that accredited agencies provided more training for their officers and required higher minimum educational requirements for new officers. However, the study did not always reveal positive support for accreditation. Further research should use a longitudinal design to follow agencies over time and throughout the accreditation process. Tables and 22 references (Author abstract modified)