Public invited to comment in SPD accreditation program

Sarasota residents are invited to participate in the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation process of the Sarasota Police Department.

A team of assessors from the CFA will arrive on March 21 to examine all aspects of SPD’s policies and procedures, management, operations and support services. To achieve accredited status, the department must comply with multiple standards, many of them critical to life, health, safety and best practices.  

Accreditation occurs every three years. The accreditation manager for the SPD is Marissa Moore.

“Accreditation improves agency accountability by ensuring that laws and legal guidelines are followed and promotes trust within our community by being transparent with our operations," Moore said. "From hiring to training, incident response procedures and evaluation/discipline processes, assessors will review policies and documentation to ensure our agency practices are current, fair, equitable and in line with Florida state statutes."

Assessors will review written materials, interview individuals and visit offices and other places where compliance may be observed. As part of the on-site assessment, agency members and the general public may submit comments to the assessment team.  A copy of the standards is available online at FLAccreditation.org under the standards tab. Comments may be mailed to CFA, P.O. Box 1489, Tallahassee, Florida 32302; or sent by email to [email protected]

Once the CFA assessors complete their review of the agency they will report to the full commission, which determines if agencies have earned accredited status. 

Benefits of CFA accreditation include:

• Increases the law enforcement agency’s ability to prevent and control crime through more effective and efficient delivery of law enforcement services.
• Enhances community understanding of the law enforcement agency and its role as well as its goals and objectives. Citizen confidence in the policies and practices of the agency is increased.
• In conjunction with the philosophy of community policing, commits the agency to a broad range of programs, such as crime prevention, that directly benefit the public.
• Creates a forum in which police and citizens work together to control and prevent crime. This partnership helps citizens to understand the challenges that confront law enforcement, which in return receives clear direction from the community about its expectations.