The Vanderbilt University Police Department is seeking feedback from the community members it serves as the department pursues re-accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), whose programs are open to law enforcement agencies around the world.
VUPD first earned accreditation from CALEA in 2009 and was re-accredited in 2012. One of Tennessee’s larger law enforcement agencies, VUPD provides comprehensive law enforcement and security services to all components of the university, including the academic campus, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and a variety of university-owned facilities throughout the Davidson County area, including Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks.
Since the first CALEA accreditation award was granted in 1984, the program has become the primary method for an agency to voluntarily demonstrate its commitment to excellence in law enforcement.
Agencies that can seek CALEA law enforcement accreditation include those at the state/provincial, county/parish, municipal and federal levels. The list of accredited agencies in Tennessee includes the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s Department of Public Safety and the only other accredited university, the University of Tennessee–Knoxville.
CALEA was created in 1979 as a credentialing authority through the joint efforts of law enforcement’s major executive associations – the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Police Executive Research Forum.