Dear Southern Pines Residents,
In light of the unfortunate events that have taken place Nationally over the past few months, rarely a day goes by that I do not receive some form of inquiry regarding the practices of our own Southern Pines Police Department. I offer the following information in an effort to generally address those questions and assure the public that the fine men and women serving our local Community are selected from amongst the best and brightest who pursue police work, are trained extensively in recognized Law Enforcement Best Practices, and serve daily with dignity and overall health, safety, and welfare of the entire community utmost in their minds.
Currently there are 40 municipal law enforcement agencies in the state of North Carolina that are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Slightly more than 5% of the nation’s law enforcement agencies participate in the CALEA accreditation process. The Southern Pines Police Department is accredited by CALEA, awarded the highest recognition of "Advanced Accreditation with Excellence" and have been providing proof of continual compliance since 2010.
With over 800 participating agencies nationwide, CALEA benefits from the collective experience of thousands of law enforcement managers and executives across the nation, and acts as a blueprint for better law enforcement institutions that are efficient, well-equipped, and responsive to the communities they serve. 1
CALEA was created in 1979 with the support of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs Association (NSA), National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The purpose of CALEA is to improve the delivery of public safety services, primarily by: maintaining a body of standards, developed by public safety practitioners, covering a wide range of up-to-date public safety initiatives; establishing and administering an accreditation process; and recognizing professional excellence.
1 https://www.policefoundation.org/calea-accreditation-a-platform-for-excellence-and-reform/
Effective and reasonable policies crafted through an informed and balanced process can protect officers, citizens, agencies and local government from errant decision making, tactics, litigation and other harms. CALEA standards cover challenging issues, including biased policing, employee rights, deadly force and associated data collection and analysis, job task analysis and recruiting, transparency and more.
Throughout CALEA’ s standards manuals, there is a clear commitment to procedural justice, ethical policing, community trust and engagement, transparency in service delivery, appropriate organizational culture, fairness in systems and processes, and consistency in what citizens should expect from their law enforcement agencies. 2
Both current and past Mayors and Councils have supported the extensive training and professional approach to Public Safety that a commitment to CALEA standards requires. As an accredited agency, the Southern Pines Police Department meets and exceeds the published standards for the best practices in law enforcement which include the majority of the current conversations taking place and questions being asked. CALEA accreditation standards are dynamic in nature and are always improving to the benefit of all concerned. The Southern Pines Police Department is committed to embracing and implementing the "best practices" that are perpetually taking place in the law enforcement profession.
Only working in unison can we ultimately become the very best community that we are cable of being. I am humbled to serve as Mayor of such an amazing Town and proud of the employees that serve our citizens. Whether it be Police and Fire or Quality of Life offerings like our Recreation and Parks and Library Divisions, our commitment remains to provide high quality, professional, services at an affordable rate to our citizens.
Respectfully,
Carol R. Haney
Southern Pines Mayor
2 https://www.calea.org/sites/default/files/News/Value%20of%20Accreditation_Website_06092020%20(1).pdf