CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. – Today, Citrus County Sheriff’s Office’s Accreditation Manager, Jody Farmer, received the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies’ (CALEA) Accreditation Manager Certification during a virtual CALEA conference.
“Congratulations to Mrs. Farmer on this exceptional accomplishment,” said Sheriff Mike Prendergast. “Her continuous endeavor as an expert in the process of accreditation has served our citizens well, ensuring that our office is held to the highest standards of public safety. Under her expertise, we look forward to persistently improving our performance and developing new, effective processes in response to our community’s needs.”
This certification program was coordinated through the Association of Public Safety Communication Officials (APCO) in partnership with CALEA. The APCO and CALEA hold three program sessions a year for experienced accreditation managers to become certified as an expert in the accreditation process.
Mrs. Farmer received an outstanding score of 99.8%, well above the required 80% passing grade during her session.
Currently, there are 732 accredited law enforcement agencies with CALEA (U.S 718, Canada 5, Mexico 8, and Barbados 1). Mrs. Farmer is one of seven managers to be certified during this program’s session and is one of only 46 managers to be certified in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Barbados.
The benefits of being a Certified Accreditation Manager is to establish a global understanding of the accreditation process, develop professional skills and abilities, serve as a portable professional resource, identify industry experts and recognize professional accreditation managers.
Before Mrs. Farmer was able to attend this program, she had to meet the following criteria:
- Must be the Accreditation Manage of record with CALEA for an actively enrolled agency in a CALEA accreditation program at the time of application.
- Must be an Accreditation Manager of record for a CALEA enrolled agency for four consecutive years.
- Must have been an Accreditation Manager of record with CALEA for one or more agencies that received one CALEA accreditation award without conditions Must have been a registered attendee at a CALEA conference within three years of the certification application.
- Submit a letter of recommendation from the current agency CEO.
- Submit a letter of recommendation from the assigned RPM (Regional Program Manager).
- Submit Public Safety Official Peer letter of recommendation from another CALEA accredited agency.
- Must have received PDMS (Power DMS) Standards Boot camp or Certified Professional Training within four years of the certification application.
In a statement, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said, “Please help us congratulate Mrs. Farmer on her well-deserved accomplishment and steadfast devotion to our mission in delivering excellence in public safety.”