Johns Creek Police Awarded Re-accreditation

JOHNS CREEK, GA -- The Johns Creek Police Department has been re-accredited with Excellence through the Gold Standards Process by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).

The agency received the award at the organization's 110th summer conference held July 30 in Baltimore.

There are about 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country and only 665, or 3.7 percent, are accredited by CALEA. Johns Creek police earned the prestigious Advanced Accreditation with Excellence Award, which is only awarded to roughly 10 to 12 percent of those agencies accredited.

The CALEA Assessment Team conducted an in-depth inspection of the police department’s operations, policies and procedures in order to ensure annual compliance of over 450 standards. They also conducted extensive interviews with community members and agency personnel.

CALEA conducted an on-site assessment of the police department from March 20-23. The assessment utilized CALEA’s Gold Standard process during the on-site visit, which measures the impact of accreditation on the department as well as the community, as opposed to simply confirming compliance through file review.

Certain criteria must be met before an agency may be considered to participate in the GSA process, including having two previous accreditation awards at the level of accreditation currently being sought and the absence of compliance issues in the most recent assessment; as well as meeting 90 percent of the other mandatory standards.

“In more than 15 years of doing on-sites I have not seen an organization as top notch as this agency," said Chief Bradford Conner of the Bowling Green, Ohio, police department.

Another assessor stated Johns Creek Police Chief Ed Densmore "empowers you to bring him ideas and not problems."

"He should be commended for allowing the growth and the success of this leadership style is evident," the assessor noted.

CALEA was established as an independent accrediting authority in 1979 by the four major law enforcement executive associations: International Association of Chiefs of Police; National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; National Sheriffs' Association; and Police Executive Research Forum. Its mission is to establish a body of standards designed to increase agency effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of public safety services.

The Johns Creek Police Department has been CALEA accredited since 2010, only two short years of becoming a police department.

PHOTO: from left to right are CALEA Executive Director W. Craig Hartley, Jr, Mayor Mike Bodker, Chief Ed Densmore, Commander Cheri Akselsen, Captain Chris Byers, Major John Clifton and CALEA Executive Board Chairman Richard Myers. Credit: city of Johns Creek.