Sheriff Sean Casey is proud to announce that for the tenth consecutive time, the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). The Sheriff’s Office received its formal reaccreditation for Advanced Law Enforcement during CALEA’s fall conference November 18 and 19, 2022, in St. Louis.

The Sheriff’s Office also earned a meritorious distinction for being continuously accredited for more than 15 years and has actually been accredited by CALEA since 1990. The Advanced Law Enforcement Program, according to CALEA, “is specifically designed for elite organizations striving to demonstrate professional excellence within a comprehensive range of operational and administrative functional responsibilities.”

“We are committed to providing Alexandria top quality law enforcement services and I’m thrilled to see that CALEA – the gold standard in public safety – has found that we are in full compliance with their high standards,” says Sheriff Casey. “Our deputies and professional staff are extremely proud to serve our community and our community should take pride in knowing that the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office reflects the gold standard benchmark established by CALEA.”

As part of the reaccreditation process, CALEA conducted a virtual assessment over three days in April to evaluate the Office’s policies and procedures, management, operations, and support services related to law enforcement. In its highly favorable audit summary, the CALEA assessment team found the Sheriff’s Office in complete compliance and reported that “in many ways, the agency appears to be a model of how to operate a modern-day law enforcement agency, especially in the area of community engagement and court security.”

In addition to the virtual assessment, CALEA has regularly evaluated the Sheriff’s Office over the past four years on its compliance with more than 400 standards related to law enforcement. Although the Alexandria Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for the City of Alexandria, the Sheriff’s Office does have law enforcement responsibilities, serving as a secondary responder with its primary mission of operating the William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center, managing courthouse security, transporting prisoners, and serving legal process and warrants.

The Sheriff’s Office is also accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA) and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) and is certified by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services and the Virginia Department of Corrections. By holding CALEA, ACA and NCCHC accreditations simultaneously, the Sheriff’s Office has also been recognized with the Triple Crown Award from the National Sheriff’s Association, a distinction that fewer than 50 agencies nationwide have earned.