Durham Reporter

City of Durham issued the following announcement on Feb. 2.

In two weeks, an important step in the fourth re-accreditation of the Durham Emergency Communications Center will get underway and residents are asked to share their thoughts during a public call-in session.

Since 2009, the Center has been an accredited public safety communications program by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA®). Participation in this process every four years means the Center has an industry-approved process to systemically review and internally assess its operations and procedures. 

This program requires the Center to collect and analyze data for the purpose of making sound operational and administrative business decisions, creating leadership, and practitioner-accountability. In addition, the focus is on quality assurance, interoperability, emerging technologies, risk analysis, asset security, resources access, contemporary training, and a range of other operational functions. In order to achieve re-accreditation, the Center must comply with 207 standards in order to maintain its accredited status.

A site-based assessment team from CALEA will arrive on February 14 to once again examine all aspects of the Center’s policy and procedures, management, operations, and support services as part of the re-accreditation process. 

• As part of the assessment, members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public call-in session on Monday, February 14 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at (919) 237-4288.
• The session will be limited to 10 minutes per person and must address the Center’s ability to comply with CALEA Communications standards. 
• Residents may also mail written comments about the Center’s ability to meet the re-accreditation standards to CALEA, 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155.

According to Director Randy Beeman, verification that the Center meets CALEA’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain and/or maintain accreditation—a highly prized recognition of public safety professional excellence. “The accreditation is a testament to the hard work, training, dedication, and professionalism of the men and women who work in our Center supporting all of our public safety agencies in Durham,” Beeman said. “It is a fantastic achievement to have highly skilled and trained staff receive this distinguished honor, and our goal is to keep our accredited status which shows our commitment to the excellent delivery of public safety call-taking and dispatch services.”

For more information about Durham’s re-accreditation process, contact Durham Emergency Communications Center Accreditation Associate Alicia Hawkins by phone at (919) 237-4167 or by email. For more information about CALEA, visit their website, call (703) 352-4225, or send an email.

 Original source can be found here.

Source: City of Durham