Mississippi Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission
A voluntary program of professional standards, developed by Mississippi chiefs and sheriffs for Mississippi agencies. Accreditation costs $300, runs for 3 years, and is open to any agency with primary responsibility for enforcing state statutes or county and city ordinances.
Ready to apply? Download the application forms
The mark accredited agencies display.
Why accredit
What accredited status is worth
The Commission publishes a benefit sheet for each of the three audiences an accreditation effort has to convince.
For the agency
A credible framework for evaluating practice, reduced risk and liability exposure, and a foundation for further progress.
Read the benefit sheet
For officers
Written policy available to everyone, a personnel system measured against professional standards, and attention to officer safety.
Read the benefit sheet
For the community
More effective delivery of services, greater understanding of the agency's role, and a forum where police and citizens work together.
Read the benefit sheet
The standards, chapter by chapter
- 1. Role and Responsibility25
- 2. Organization and Management10
- 3. Personnel14
- 4. Legal7
- 5. Operations29
- 6. Support Services13
- 7. Communications8
- 8. Temporary Holding Areas11
- 9. Jail / Detention Facilities20
Chapters 8 and 9 are mutually exclusive. An agency with a temporary holding area answers to 117 standards; one operating a jail answers to 126.
What it involves
Measured against your own written directives
Most Accreditation Managers find their agency closer to compliance than they expected. The work is proving it, in order, standard by standard.
- Written directives, not new onesThe standards say what an agency should address, never how. You prove compliance with the policy you already have, or write what is missing.
- A folder for every standardOne compliance folder per standard — the statement, the compliance form, and the proofs. Including the ones you mark not applicable.
- 24 months to prepareSelf-assessment, then a mock on-site you arrange yourself, then the Commission's own multi-day visit by a team of trained peers.
- Standards adopted
137
Standards adopted
- Chapters of standards
9
Chapters of standards
- Accreditation and re-accreditation
$300
Accreditation and re-accreditation
- Length of an accredited term
3 yrs
Length of an accredited term
How it works
From first interest to award
The first four steps take an agency into the program. Preparation for the on-site assessment is completed within 24 months of enrollment.
Designate an Accreditation Manager
The Chief or Sheriff appoints the person who will run the effort day to day.
Submit a Letter of Intent
A formal, non-binding notice signed by the Chief or Sheriff and the governing authority.
Complete the application package
Five instruments and the $300 fee, paid in full.
Self-assessment
Compare your written directives against every applicable standard, within 24 months.
Read before you commit
Everything the program publishes
The standards, the manual, the forms and the directory are all public.
Standards
All 137 standards, in full
Every standard statement, its bullets and its discussion, across nine chapters — readable in full before you commit to anything.
Browse the standards
Manual
Administrative Manual, Fifth Edition
The Commission's own account of the program: initial steps, the self-assessment, the on-site, and what happens after the award.
Read the manual
Directory
Agencies already accredited
Mississippi agencies holding accredited status, and the year each was awarded. A good place to find someone who has done this.
See the directory
Ready to begin?
The Letter of Intent is a formal notice, not a binding contract. Either party may abandon it at any time.
The application forms
Fillable on screen and printable for signature. Complete them, sign them, and mail the package with the $300 fee. Program Staff raise the invoice themselves.
Looking for officer certification?
Accreditation is for agencies. An officer’s certification, training record and applications are handled in the Acadis Portal, and the Acadis Portal Wiki explains how.
Nothing here is mandatory policy
The standards adopted by the Commission describe what an agency should address, not how it must address it. Policy development remains the responsibility and the prerogative of each agency’s chief executive. Federal, state and local law, collective bargaining agreements, administrative regulations and local ordinances take precedence over these standards.