CALEA
The Law Enforcement Accreditation Program was the first credentialing program established by CALEA after its founding. It was originally developed to address what was seen as a need to enhance law enforcement as a profession and to improve law enforcement service delivery. That mission continues today through a tiered law enforcement accreditation program. Participating agencies may enroll in either CALEA Law Enforcement Accreditation or CALEA Advanced Law Enforcement Accreditation, without regard to agency size. Agencies may apply for and be awarded CALEA Accreditation with Excellence by the Commission as an indication of superlative performance.
Additionally, these programs are open to all types of law enforcement agencies, on an international basis. And, these programs provide specific standards to support law enforcement agencies functioning in the college/university environment. They provide a process to systematically conduct an internal review and assessment of the agencies’ policies and procedures, and make adjustments wherever necessary to meet a body of internationally accepted standards.
Since the first CALEA Accreditation Award was granted in 1984, the program has become the primary method for an agency to voluntarily demonstrate their commitment to excellence in law enforcement. The standards upon which the Law Enforcement Accreditation Program is based reflect the current thinking and experience of law enforcement practitioners and researchers. Major law enforcement associations, leading educational and training institutions, governmental agencies, as well as law enforcement executives internationally, acknowledge CALEA’s Standards for Law Enforcement Agencies© and its Accreditation Programs as benchmarks for professional law enforcement agencies.
CALEA Accreditation requires an agency to develop a comprehensive, well thought out, uniform set of written directives. This is one of the most successful methods for reaching administrative and operational goals, while also providing direction to personnel.
CALEA Accreditation standards provide the necessary reports and analyses a CEO needs to make fact-based, informed management decisions.
CALEA Accreditation requires a preparedness program be put in place—so an agency is ready to address natural or man-made unusual occurrences.
CALEA Accreditation is a means for developing or improving upon an agency’s relationship with the community.
CALEA Accreditation strengthens an agency’s accountability, both within the agency and the community, through a continuum of standards that clearly define authority, performance, and responsibilities.
Being CALEA Accredited can limit an agency’s liability and risk exposure because it demonstrates that internationally recognized standards for law enforcement have been met, as verified by a team of independent outside CALEA-trained assessors.
CALEA Accreditation facilitates an agency’s pursuit of professional excellence.
This Interim Standard defines the interfaces between a telecommunication service provider (TSP) and a Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) to assist the LEA in conducting lawfully authorized electronic surveillance. A TSP, manufacturer, or support service provider that is in compliance with this Interim Standard will have a “safe harbor” under Section 107 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), Public Law 103-414: “a [TSP] shall be found to be in compliance with the assistance capability requirements under [CALEA] Section 103, and a manufacturer of telecommunication transmission or switching equipment or a provider of telecommunication support services shall be found in compliance with [CALEA] Section 106.” J-STD-025A provides the enhancements necessary to support FCC 99-230, CC Docket No. 97-213, Third Report and Order. As used in this Interim Standard, electronic surveillance refers to the inter-ception and monitoring of communications (i.e., call content), call-identi-fying information, or both, for a particular telecommunication subscriber as lawfully authorized. In this Interim Standard intercept subject, or more simply a subject, is a telecommunication service subscriber whose communi-cations, call-identifying information, or both, have been authorized by a court to be intercepted and delivered to an LEA. The identification of the subject is limited to identifiers used to access the particular equipment, facility, or communication service (e.g., network address, terminal identity, subscription identity). As a precondition for a TSP’s assistance with Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance (LAES), an LEA must serve a TSP with the necessary legal authorization identifying the intercept subject, the communications and infor-mation to be accessed, and service areas where the communications and information can be accessed. Once this authorization is obtained, the TSP shall perform the access and delivery for transmission to the government’s procured equipment, facilities, or services. LEAs recognize that in many instances the telecommunication services subscribed to by certain intercept subjects may permit a TSP to access and deliver communications and call-identifying information without the TSP having to modify its networks or systems. In these instances, the TSP may be fully compliant with the assistance capability requirements set forth in CALEA. For example, a TSP could effect a central office- or local loop-based interception using conventional methods of access and delivery and fully meet an LEA’s electronic surveillance needs.