CALEA Accreditation Unanimously Awarded to the Office of the Sheriff (Body-Worn Camera Program Roll-Out and Demonstration) #PGSO

Prince George’s County, Maryland… The Prince George’s County Office of the Sheriff announced at a press conference today that it has been awarded a ‘Certificate of Accreditation’ from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) for the first time in the agency’s history. The Office of the Sheriff’s CALEA Team was officially notified of the award on March 24th in Dallas, TX. Sheriff High was awarded the certificate of accreditation by CALEA Executive Director, Mr. W. Craig Hartley, Jr.

CALEA standards require an established reporting process for monitoring and measuring performance. As such, it ensures best practices, continual growth and improvement, and a methodology to confirm that law enforcement agencies practice what is established in their written directives. Accreditation by CALEA represents the Office of the Sheriff’s completion of a comprehensive agency-wide self-evaluation that concludes with a rigorous outside review by a team of independent assessors. Accreditation has been sought by the agency for many years.

Sheriff High thanked County Executive Baker for his support of Public Safety in general and of the

Office of the Sheriff specifically, saying of the CALEA award, “This is yet another demonstration of the professionalism that is a great source of pride for us and for the men and women of the Agency. This ‘Certificate of Accreditation’ from CALEA – on our first time testing our work against their rigorous standards - is an outstanding validation of our General Orders that substantiates that our policies and procedures are clear and consistent with best practice guidelines for how we do our work every day.”

Chief Assistant Sheriff Darrin Palmer attended the CALEA conference in March, along with Captain Shawn Davenport and members of the CALEA Team said, “Our members depend on the integrity of our policies and procedures; accreditation tells citizens, government officials and our colleagues in law enforcement that our agency meets the highest professional standards.”

Captain Davenport, who said he was proud that the award came under his watch said, “This is a proud day in our agency’s history and I think we’re all proud and honored to be here at this time, continuing to demonstrate that we have the best interests of the citizens and our members firmly in the forefront of our mission.”

The press conference also included a presentation and demonstration of the Office of the Sheriff’s Body-Worn Camera Program and its plan for roll-out of the cameras. Lt. Brian Endlich, who spearheaded the camera project said, “In addition to developing and vetting our policy before we did anything, we also tested several of the best camera brands before we chose the one for our agency.”

Major Sharon Saunders, Deputy Bureau Chief and Commander of the Office of Professional Responsibility, in recognizing the CALEA Team staff said, “It’s been quite the experience and pleasure to be in command as we moved into the final phases of this work. The effort by them and all the members we depended on to help us get here makes this award truly an agency award.” Of the body-worn camera roll-out she said, “We are ready to roll-out body-worn cameras to help us do our work because we took the time we needed so that our training and implementation would be successful.”

For more information contact the Communications and Public Affairs Division at 301-780-7354.