Accreditation is a special status that is accorded to a law enforcement agency by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Accreditation in law enforcement is similar to accreditation in other fields, i.e., hospitals, colleges. It means the agency has met specific standards of excellence and operates according to norms established by practitioners in the law enforcement fields from throughout the United States and 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. The purpose of accreditation is to provide law enforcement agencies an opportunity to demonstrate voluntarily that they meet an established set of professional standards. Accreditation is a self-improvement process for law enforcement agencies.