Accreditation
On Wednesday July 15, 2020, the Salt River Police Department (SRPD) received from the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ALEAP) Full Accreditation, becoming the fifth Police Department out of 140 in the State of Arizona, to achieve this level of Certification.
Benefits and Value of Accreditation:
- Ensures that the Salt River Police Department is meeting Industry Standards and Best Practices through Validated Standards Measurements for Top Quality and Safety Results.
- Improves Officer Safety and Public Safety.
- Ensures Accountability, Building Trust with the Community and Transparency.
- Ensures the Salt River Police Department through Audits, Evaluations, Inspections and Validation Processes, that our Operations, Policies and Procedures match Practice.
- Ensures the Operational Readiness Factor of the Salt River Police Department to best Serve and Protect the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community.
- Reduces Exposure, Risk and Liability and can also assist with Grants and Funding.
- Provides the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community and every Salt River Police Department Team Member with the knowledge and pride that the SRPD has met the Highest of Professional Policing Standards.
What is Accreditation ?:
Accreditation is a progressive and time-proven method of assisting law enforcement agencies in measuring and improving their overall performance. The foundation of Accreditation is the implementation of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives. Participating agencies conduct a thorough self-analysis to determine how existing operations can be adapted to meet these objectives.
When the procedures are in place, a team of trained assessors verifies that applicable standards have been successfully implemented. Accreditation status represents a significant professional achievement. Accreditation acknowledges the implementation of policies and procedures that are conceptually sound and operationally effective. The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP) Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ALEAP) is intended to provide law enforcement agencies in the state with an avenue for demonstrating that they meet commonly accepted best practices and industry standards for efficient, effective, productive and quality operations. (source: ALEAP)
Salt River Police Department Goal and Journey:
In May of 2016, the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP) created a committee to research and design our own State of Arizona Accreditation Program. The existing National Model, the Commission of Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) was created in 1979, for many years CALEA had not been open to customizing CALEA for the State including Indian Country, for this reason as well as many others, AACOP created the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ALEAP) Committee to develop our own State of Arizona Accreditation Program that would absolutely include Indian Country.
From May 2016 to February 2018, Chief Karl Auerbach served on the ALEAP Committee (Founding Board Member) along with 9 other Arizona Law Enforcement Professionals who represented Local, Municipal, College / University, County, State and AZPOST. Very proud to share that Indian Country Jurisdiction is fully represented in ALEAP, in fact an entire Chapter Number 30, is dedicated to Indian Country Relationships and Jurisdiction. The ALEAP committee completed all the Standards, all 175 very focused Standards were reviewed and approved to legal form by AACOP Attorney’s (Mr. Eric Edwards and Mr. Bill Amato), along with ALEAP By-Laws and an ALEAP Accreditation Director (Mr. Kevin Rhea, former Novi, MI. PD. Police Officer and CALEA Accreditation Manager) and AACOP officially launched the ALEAP Program Statewide. ALEAP is a Member of AccredNet a National Accreditation and Standards Programs consortium. Our ALEAP is also the first in the Nation that includes Tribal, Local, Municipal, College / University, County, State and POST.
Goal was for the Salt River Police Department (SRPD) to become one of the very first ALEAP Accredited Police Agencies in the State of Arizona. Over the last 4-years, we kept all SRPD Team Members, our SRPMIC Council, SRPMIC Executive Administration and SRPMIC Office of General Counsel updated on the ALEAP progress and for Situational Awareness, so when ALEAP was ready to officially open for Police Agencies to apply for the proves to become ALEAP Certified, SRPD would be ready to launch.
SRPD had been preparing for some time, Lt. Anthony Sandoval was our initial SRPD ALEAP Accreditation Project Manager (PM) supported by his Team from 2017 to 2019 until some SRPD department transfers in May 2019 and then Lt. Alejandro McDaniel became the SRPD ALEAP Accreditation PM. Very proud of Lt. McDaniel and SRPD Team Members hard work including updating our existing SRPD Operations Orders (Policies and Procedures) that already met almost every ALEAP Standard, however updating was required and then creating all the “Proofs” that demonstrated and validated that Practice Meets Policy Standards ; that was a massive task !!!
From 2019 to 2020, SRPD had been continuously working on preparing SRPD to meet all requirements for the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (ALEAP). On Wednesday 061720 and Thursday 061820, SRPD had our On-Site ALEAP Assessment (Analysis, Evaluations, Interviews and Inspections) of all Policies, Procedures, Equipment, Facilities, Operations, Technology, Vehicles as well as ALEAP Assessors interviewed many SRPD Team Members and went on observation tours with SRPD Police Officers and our SRPD received a Meets all Requirements for full ALEAP Accreditation.
Tuesday 071420, SRPD made our final presentation before the ALEAP Commissioners and on Wednesday 071520, the SRPD Received Full ALEAP Accreditation !!!!!
This is a Major SRPMIC and SRPD Accomplishment !!!
Industry Standards, Best Practices, Standardization of Training, Policies, Procedures and Operations, improves Quality, improves Officer Safety, reduces Exposure (risk and liability) and will also lower “Risk Pool” Insurance costs to the SRPMIC. As well as, SRPD will be the first Tribal Police Department to be ALEAP Accredited and Certified in Arizona and the USA !!! Verification by the assessment team that the Salt River Police Department meets the Arizona Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission’s “best practice” standards is part of a voluntary process to receive accreditation, this is absolutely the highest level of recognition and professional excellence a Police Department, Law Enforcement Professionals and their Community can achieve.
Please also know, ALEAP appears to be completely consistent with USA President Mr. Trump’s Executive Order recently issued (061620) titled: Strengthen Relations Between Law Enforcement And Their Communities, detailing specifically the need for: The highest of professional standards, best practices in the use-of-force and de-escalation and credentialed by reputable independent bodies. SRPD meets and exceeds many of these areas including however not limited to: ALEAP Accreditation, Best Practices in Training, Policies, Procedures with Validated Standards Measurements, IACP One Mind Certification for our SRPD Mental Health, Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation Trained Staff, as well as CISM, Peer Support and SRPD SOU Negotiator Team, our partnership with SRPMIC HHS and CIW for so many of our Calls For Service, Extensive Backgrounding before hire, the Tracking of any use of force and full deployment of Body Worn Cameras and the numerous credentialing sources for Police Officers (AZPOST, ALP, DEA, FBI, LPO, SLEC, NAFTO, NTOA, etc.) and our Professional Staff Members (APCO, AZLERMA, ENP, NACA, NENA, etc.), Extensive Community-Based Policing Programs for Positive Interactions with the Community who we serve and how we “talk with” and treat the Community and everyone with dignity and respect.
Very special thank you to Cmdr. Jonathan Gann, Lt. Alejandro McDaniel, Sgt. G Bury, SRPD Command Staff and all SRPD Team Members who have worked tirelessly on our ALEAP Accreditation Goal, your actions, efforts and teamwork have brought our SRPD Team to this point. Much appreciation and very Proud of you all !!! The SRPD has earned this level of recognition as Professionals who Meet the Highest Standards to Serve and Protect the Community !!!
SRPD We Are the New Standard !!!
