A team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), will examine all aspects of the Gastonia Police Department’s policy and procedure, management, operations, and support services from March 29-31, Chief Travis Brittain has announced.
Verification by the team that the Gastonia Police Department meets the Commission’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain re-accreditation, a highly prized recognition of law enforcement professional excellence, Brittain said.
As part of the CALEA assessment, Gastonia Police personnel and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public input session starting at 5 p.m. Monday, March 29. The session will be conducted in the Gastonia Police Department Community Room located at 200 E. Long Avenue, Gastonia. The public input session will conclude when there are no remaining speakers.
Due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions, the public input session is restricted to those who would like to speak to assessors. If you wish to speak at the public input session, please enter the GPD front entrance and maintain social-distance while waiting to enter the Community Room. Masks will be required while social distancing, but may be removed while speaking to assessors.
Department personnel and the public are also invited to offer comments through a public phone-in session from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30. The public may call 704-866-6044 to offer comments to the Assessment Team. If your call is not answered immediately, please leave a message on the line and an assessor will return your phone call.
Appearances at the public input session, as well as telephone comments, are limited to 10 minutes and must address the GPD’s ability to comply with CALEA’s standards. A list of the standards is available online at www.GastoniaPD.org and at the GPD Front Desk. Anyone with questions regarding standards or standard topics may contact Accreditation Manager Amanda Neese at (704) 869-1990.
Anyone wishing to submit written comments about the GPD’s ability to comply with the standards for accreditation may send them to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (CALEA), 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320, Gainesville, VA, 20155 or email comments to calea@calea.org.
