Accreditation Program
The Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Program is voluntary and designed to improve an agency’s effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism; promote training and foster public confidence in law enforcement. Police departments and sheriffs’ offices are eligible to participate in the program.
Agencies must meet a set of standards in three categories: Administration, Training and Operations. Accreditation provides formal recognition that an agency meets or exceeds expectations of quality; demonstrates that the agency performs in a professional manner, has formalized policies in place to govern its operational practices and procedures, and that its employees contribute to the agency's mission and know what is expected of them.
Agencies are accredited / reaccredited every five years. Staff from the DCJS Office of Public Safety administer the program and accreditation process, assisted by program assessors who evaluate agencies’ compliance with program standards.
Accreditation and reaccreditation are granted by the Accreditation Council. DCJS also recognizes the managers of newly accredited and reaccredited agencies with the John Kimball O’Neil Certificate of Achievement, named in memory of Mr. O’Neill, who was instrumental in the initial implementation of the program and served as its supervisor until his sudden death in 2005.
New York was the first state in the country to sponsor a law enforcement accreditation program. Operational since 1989, the program has evolved to address legal, policing and social issues, with program standards revised, added or removed to remain responsive to the needs of New York’s law enforcement community.
Standards and Compliance Verification Manual: December 2023 Edition
Accreditation Publications and Forms
Request for Applications for Assessors and Assessor Application
For more information about the program or becoming an assessor, please email OPS.Accreditation@dcjs.ny.gov or call 518-457-2667.