Accreditation

The role of a professional organization is serving its clients; our role is serving the members of the university community. The manner in which ODU Police conducts business, operationally as well as administratively, must be consistent with professionally accepted practices and ideals. The members of the university community are entitled to a professional department. It is for this reason that we have voluntarily sought accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) and the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. (IACLEA)

Accreditation is a method to ensure that ODU Police is in compliance with national and international standards covering all aspects of law enforcement policies, procedures, practices, and operations. Accreditation makes a statement to other law enforcement agencies, professions, and the university community that ODU Police meets the highest standards of professionalism.

Accreditation demonstrates the Department’s commitment to provide the students, faculty, and staff of UNC the high standard of services of a police department recognized for meeting national professional standards. CALEA initially accredited the ODU Police in 2018 following an intensive three-year self-assessment period and IACLEA initially accredited the department in 2019.

The period of accredited status for ODU Police is four years. During this time, our agency must submit annual reports that document continuing compliance with applicable standards to both accreditation bodies. Our agency has applied for reaccreditation, which will be determined by continuing the self-assessment process and successfully submitting the agency for another onsite inspection every four years. The achievement of accreditation for the Department has resulted in improvements in structure, leadership, organization, general direction, and accountability. The process of intensive self-assessment has united the Department in its commitment to serve the university community through well-written policies and procedures, objective management, and conscious recognition of the need for law enforcement professionalism.