The Professional standards division directed by Lieutenant Dave Lucas, encompasses Internal Affairs, Accreditation, Staff Inspections and Background Investigations.

The goal of the Professional Standards Division is to ensure the following objectives:

• That the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office maintains its accreditation status through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., (CALEA) and the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA) through compliance with applicable accreditation standards.
• That the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office objectively review office facilities, property, equipment, personnel, administrative, operational and detention activities through regular inspections outside the normal supervisory and line inspection procedures.
• That the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office ensures thorough, fair and impartial investigations to members subject of allegations of misconduct.
• That the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office conduct comprehensive background investigations on all potential new hire candidates.

The Professional Standards Division will accomplish these primary objectives through four areas of responsibilities:

Internal Affairs

Investigates all allegations of misconduct, violations of rules, regulations, and policies directed at members of the Office. Internal Affairs are Fact Finders that review and investigate complaints and allegations, in order to establish and maintain the confidence of the citizens of Charlotte County. These Fact Finders protect the integrity and rights of agency members and protect the public from inappropriate behavior by members of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. For more information contact Sgt. Michael Savage at msavage@ccso.org

Accreditation Management

Accreditation manages the accreditation process on a daily basis through reports, policies and documentation, evaluates policies and procedures and determines compliance with accreditation standards through inspections and written documentation. The movement by law enforcement professionals to create accrediting bodies is in response to a need to ensure the public that quality services are being delivered in accordance with recognized accepted standards. For more information contact Christine Schmidt at schmidt@ccso.org.

Representatives from various Government agencies developed an accreditation program, which requires compliance with professional standards designed specifically for Florida law enforcement agencies. These standards are practical, easily understood, and achievable even for the smallest law enforcement agency. The program was designed with the following goals:

• To establish and maintain standards that represent current professional law enforcement practices;
• To increase effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of law enforcement services;
• To establish standards that address and reduce liability for the agency and its members;
• To establish standards that make an agency and its personnel accountable to the constituency they serve;

Staff Inspections

Staff Inspections provides a means to regularly assess the Office's efficiency and effectiveness, as well as providing information necessary to plan for change. An inspection is an objective review of all the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office facilities, personnel and procedures through a series of inspections authorized by the Sheriff, to ensure that the Sheriff's Office is operating effectively, efficiently and per agency guidelines. These inspections provide the Sheriff and command staff with valuable information that will be useful in the ongoing effort in keeping the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office a respected professional agency. For more information contact Lt. Dave Lucas at lucas@ccso.org

Background

Investigates and develops the necessary information to ensure that applicant's backgrounds are fully investigated while maintaining the confidentiality of the data gathered, and preparing final written report for inclusion into either the applicant file for review by staff or an internal final report for review by the Sheriff and staff. For more information contact Sgt. Ken Barton at barton@ccso.org.

Link to www.calea.org
Link to www.flaccreditation.org
Link to www.fcac.cc
Link to www.corrections.com/aca

Accreditation History

During the 1960's Law Enforcement was faced with riots and disturbances over race and the Vietnam War. The public lost confidence in Police due to their inability to prepare for emergencies. Law Enforcement agencies did not learn from others mistakes and had no coordination between other agencies. Many Police officers were under trained, the selection and hiring practices were often discriminatory, policies and procedures were not well written and the public did not respect law enforcement as professionals.

In October of 1971 a National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and goals was appointed by Jerris Leonard, Administrator of the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to formulate for the first time National Criminal Justice Standards for crime reduction and prevention at the state and local levels. The LEAA provided 1.75 million dollars in grant money to conduct this study and develop standards for Law Enforcement Agencies to follow.

By 1979 a private, non-profit corporation was formed. The International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriff's Association and the Police Executive Research Forum, founded the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA). CALEA's standards and goals and directly related to the Report on Police 1973. This report was developed to provide guidance to law enforcement agencies as a way to improve them. Accreditation was part of the answer to problems of the past generation and is also part of the solution to issues confronting law enforcement today.

In 1993 Florida Statute 943.125 encouraged the Florida Sheriff's Association (FSA) and the Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) to create an independent voluntary law enforcement agencies accreditation program. The movement by law enforcement professionals to create accrediting bodies is in response to a need to assure the public that quality services are delivered in accordance with recognized and accepted standards.

Representatives from FSA and FPCA developed an accreditation program, modeled after the National Accreditation Program (CALEA), which requires compliance with more than 250 professional standards designed specifically for Florida Law enforcement agencies. These standards are practical, easily understood and achievable even for the smallest law enforcement agency.

A feasibility study and status report was delivered to the Speaker of the House of Representatives in November 1993. A joint FSA/FPCA Charter Review Committee was then formed headed by Sheriff Neil J. Perry of St. Johns County. This committee developed the charter for the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. (CFA) and established the overall framework for its operation.

There are many benefits of accreditation, among those is a Study conducted from 1993 to 1997 by the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency (IRMA). This Police Accreditation Study was conducted on accredited vs. non-accredited agencies and it concludes that accreditation saves money due to it being excellent defense in lawsuits because it showed officers were acting according to policies established by the Commission. This study dated 1998 shows that 21% of state and local officers work for a commission accredited department and accredited agencies had 17% fewer lawsuits filed against them and paid out 35% less in awards than non-accredited agencies.

In 2001 the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA) recently supplied the following statistics to: 43.8% of all LEO's in Florida work for accredited agencies and 18% of Florida agencies are accredited.

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office is a professional agency, one that strives for excellence. Our agency was nationally accredited by CALEA in March 1991 and re-accredited twice in 1996 and again in 1999. State Accredited status was also awarded to our agency by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. (CFA) in May of 1998 and re-accredited in 2001.