Tyler Police Department Awarded its 6th Accreditation

TYLER — Chief Gary Swindle announced Wednesday to the City Council that the Tyler Police Department has been awarded its fifth re-accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (CALEA). On March 24, in Mobile, Alabama, City Manager Mark McDaniel, Chief Swindle, Assistant Police Chief Paula Riggle, Police Lieutenant Jimmy Toler, and Police Investigator John Ragland were on hand to receive the award. The department received initial accreditation in 1995 and was re-accredited in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009 before gaining the honor again this year.

There are approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. As of March 24, there are a total of 595 agencies that have been recognized by CALEA as having achieved accredited status. The Tyler Police department is one of only 32 law enforcement agencies out of 2600 in the State of Texas that has achieved and maintained this level of police professionalism. A listing of the accredited agencies may be found on the CALEA website at http://www.calea.org in the Client Database section.

The voluntary accreditation process requires the Police Department to continuously monitor and evaluate all of the police services that are provided to the Tyler community to ensure its citizens receive the utmost professional police service. Currently, in three-year intervals, law enforcement professionals from the across the United States come to Tyler to review every aspect of the Department’s operations and submit a recommendation to the Commission on whether the agency is complying with the industry’s established standards. The last on-site review occurred in December 2011, and the assessment team recommended the continued accredited status to CALEA.