See more information on this accreditation from the Chief of Police, Michael Bailey, below.
"Just to highlight what was said last night by Stacy Olson, ALEAP was started in 2018 by the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police. This program was started as a way for agencies to ensure they are following nationally recognized standards. ALEAP is dedicated to promote the highest standards, professionalism and integrity throughout the law enforcement across the state.
Some of the benefits of being an accredited agency is it allows an ability of an independent evaluation of agency operations. It offers a mechanism for agencies to identify and correct deficiencies in agency operations. It requires agencies to commit policies and procedures in writing and promote accountability among agency personnel. It also minimizes agency exposure to liability by building a stronger defense against lawsuits by strict adherence to established standards.
Additionally, some community benefits of having an accredited police department shows an increased ability to prevent and control crime because that agency is following established best practices. Commits the agency to a broad range of programs that directly benefit the community. And probably one of the most important benefits is the reduced liability exposure for the agency which means less tax dollars being spent on vicarious liability suits.
Our department began the self assessment process in July of 2022. We were awarded a grant from the Department of Justice to assist agencies seeking first time accreditation in the amount of $160,000. With this funding, we were able to hire a full time Accreditation Manager to oversee this monumental task.
During this self assessment process, our department had a complete overhaul of our policies. Every policy was either changed or is a new policy to ensure our department is adhering to the more that 300 standards and sub standards that ALEAP has implemented.
After obtaining our initial accreditation, which is good for a period of not more than four years, we are required to still show compliance of each standard and sub standard every year. At the end of our initial four years, we have to restart the self assessment period.
In addition to this law enforcement accreditation, ALEAP also has accreditation programs for communications centers and property and evidence. Our intention is to enroll in the property and evidence accreditation program in the early part of 2026.
This process forced us to sit down and really assess and re-evaluate how we operate as a department. It allowed us to see areas where we were deficient and needed improvement. Those areas included either adjusting our policy(ies) or finding we didn't have a particular policy but discovering we needed one. We were able to determine if certain policies we did have were efficient and/or needed to be updated or removed.
The Parker Police is the first and only agency in La Paz County to be an accredited agency and we are one of approximately 40 accredited police agencies throughout Arizona."