The Round Rock Police Department earned the highest possible accreditation status at the annual conference of the Commission on the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) on Nov. 16.

Chief Tim Ryle describes the Department’s new Advanced Accreditation with Excellence designation as “the highest-available ranking for ‘best practices’ from CALEA. This puts our department in the top tier of all CALEA agencies internationally.”

CALEA has operated as a credentialing authority for law enforcement agencies since 1979.

Accreditation is a highly prized distinction the Department has maintained since its initial accreditation in 2004. This voluntary process of obtaining accreditation imparts upon an agency a national recognition of its embrace of “best practices” for law enforcement.

Currently, 1,032 police agencies in the United States and other countries are accredited through CALEA, and less than 5 percent of accredited agencies achieve Advance Accreditation with Excellence. In Texas, Round Rock is one of only seven agencies with that designation.

The Department completed an on-site, re-accreditation review in August, with the visiting assessors praising the Department’s staff, management systems, and training program.

Unlike past assessments, where accreditation assessors examined hundreds of files, this year’s on-site review relied heavily on face-to-face interviews and observations to assess the Department’s condition and determine whether the new designation was warranted.

The assessors in August described the Department as a high-quality, public-friendly agency after meeting with a broad cross-section of community leaders – church pastors, school district officials, city and neighborhood leaders, prosecutors and a congressman.

For the achievement, Chief Ryle commended the hard work of staff members throughout the Department as well as current Accreditation Manager Larry Roberson and Joe Teiber, who retired from that role earlier this year and assisted with this year’s process.