Assistant Vice President for Campus Security and Police Chief David Carter proudly announces the University of Texas at Austin Police Department was awarded Accreditation with Excellence on July 30 by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). This is the second time UTPD has achieved Accreditation with Excellence, the highest honor the department can receive.
The accreditation award comes following a multi-year self-assessment phase and a meticulous site-based assessment of community engagement, policy, procedures, equipment and facilities by CALEA assessors. Each agency being reviewed goes before CALEA’s 21-member Board of Commissioners where the commission reviews all findings and determines the agencies’ accreditation status.
“I’d like to express my appreciation to the CALEA Commissioners for their recognition, once again, for this important award. It shows our department has been diligent in making sure we stay true to best practices,” Chief David Carter said. “I believe the accreditation process is more important than ever, especially in light of the current events going on around the nation. Accreditation shows police departments are doing the right thing—continually looking to improve the service they provide to their community.”
UTPD was first awarded national accreditation in 2007. The two times that UTPD has received the category of Accreditation with Excellence have been under Chief Carter’s tenure as chief.
“The chief assessor thought the way we restructured our department into three divisions—Community Engagement, Investigations and Mitigation, and Public Order—showed great promise and was a new potential model for policing,” Carter said. “That restructure took place in 2019 based on our review of issues that were happening nationally. Certain communities simply did not have the level of trust in police serving them. We look forward to further enhancing police services on and around campus.”
In 1979, CALEA was created through the combined efforts of four major law enforcement organizations; the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Sheriffs’ Association and the Police Executive Research Forum.
The purpose of the CALEA is to develop standards based on international best practices in public safety, and to establish and administer the accreditation process. The accreditation process is how a public safety agency voluntarily demonstrates how it meets professionally recognized criteria for excellence in management and service delivery.