Law Enforcement Accreditation

Law Enforcement Accreditation is a special status that is accorded to a law enforcement agency by the Commission on the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).   Accreditation in law enforcement is similar to accreditation of other fields such as hospitals and colleges.  It means the agency has met specific standards of excellence and operates according to normal standards established by practitioners in the law enforcement fields from throughout the United States, Canada.

Accreditation compels an agency to operate within specific guidelines. It requires accountability. It makes the agency adopt nationally recognized practices of quality in the law enforcement field. It improves agency morale and prevents an agency from slipping into mediocrity. 

At the time of our initial accreditation in 1996, the Carmel Police Department was the 7th agency in Indiana to achieve this status. Since then, the Department has undergone the process of being re-accredited in 2001 and most recently in April 2004. This involved an exhaustive review by a team of outside assessors to ensure our compliance. The Department is proud to be one of approximately 500 law enforcement agencies across the United States and Canada to have achieved the internationally accredited status.

Click HERE to view our most recent accreditation award letter.

The Carmel Police Department is an active member of the Indiana Police Accreditation Coalition (InPAC) and is host to it's bi-monthly meetings. For more information regarding CALEA or InPAC please follow the links provided.