For the first time ever, the King County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center has received national accreditation from CALEA, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement.

The CALEA commissioners voted unanimously to confer the award at their Dallas conference last mont. Nationwide, accreditation is achieved by only a very small percentage of law enforcement communication agencies.

Formal accreditation was the culmination of a rigorous, 28 month process the Comm Center had undertaken to meet over 200 standards of professional communications excellence.

Once the Comm Center felt the standards had been met, a review team of specially trained law enforcement communications practitioners came in and spent four days in January examining every aspect of the Communications Section policy and procedures, management, operations, and support services.

A summery of their observations was sent to CALEA, who in turn held formal hearings at their conference last month, leading to the award.

CALEA accreditation is good for three years, at which time verification is again conducted to ensure compliance with the Commission’s state-of-the art standards.

“I am very pleased our Comm Center met the very exacting standards of CALEA,” said Sheriff Sue Rahr. “It demonstrates the high level of law enforcement services and commitment our employees offer to the citizens of King County.”