Accreditation

Accreditation

The South Daytona Police Department was first awarded “accredited status” by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation on February 6, 2002, during a formal recognition ceremony. Since then, the South Daytona Police Department has been re-accredited seven additional times; 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023. During the 2020 re-accreditation process, the Department was given the coveted “excelsior agency” status. This is only granted to those agencies who have completed 5 three-year accreditation cycles with no deficiencies. During the 2023 re-accreditation process, the Department was awarded a 2nd “excelsior agency” status for continuing to operate with no deficiencies.

Significance

Accreditation is a coveted award that symbolizes professionalism, excellence, and competence within the law enforcement community. Accreditation serves to enhance general and specific understanding of the South Daytona Police Department, our goals and objectives, as well as our role as a community partner.

By ensuring that proper policies and procedures are in place and that all facets of police operations are maintained within acceptable legal and professional limits, the accreditation process improves our ability to prevent and control crime by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our services of law enforcement services.

The Process

The accreditation process requires an in-depth review of every aspect of the agency, including; administration, organizational structure, management, supervision, and all daily operations and functions of the Police Department.

Our agency is compelled to operate within specific guidelines and is accountable to the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, which conducts on-site visits and examines compliance with approximately 260 different performance standards. Our Police Department must stay within those compliance standards set forth by the Commission in order to retain its accreditation status and must then pass systematic reviews by outside assessors.

The Purpose

Citizen confidence in our policies and practices, as viewed and documented by our state-mandated oversight board, has provided us with a strong foundation from which to grow our community policing philosophy and increase the active participation of local stakeholders. The South Daytona Police Department takes great pride in the fact that their agency is fully accredited, knowing that it represents the very best in law enforcement.