Cherokee County 911 has applied for a national accreditation that would raise the standards under which it operates.
Director Chris Collett said the agency has applied for accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), and the organization has accepted its application.
If approved, Cherokee 911 would be the fifth stand-alone 911 communications center to achieve the accreditation. Cobb County 911 was the first in the state to receive CALEA accreditation—something it did in 2002.
“It’s rare for a 911 agency to have,” Collett said. “We are on track to have that by the end of the year.”
County Manager Jerry Cooper said he’s pleased with the initiative the 911 center employees are taking to increase the standards within the agency.
“I am proud of the leadership of Mr. Collett and hard work and dedication of all E-911 employees to enhance the level of services provided to citizens of Cherokee County,” Cooper said. “CALEA accreditation is a significant accomplishment and clearly identifies Cherokee County E-911 as one of the elite emergency communication agencies in the state of Georgia and country.”
Collett said he decided to move forward with the accreditation in an effort to achieve higher standards.
“Because it’s a way of policing ourselves,” said Collett, who, for 15 years, worked for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, a CALEA-accredited agency. “It will force us, although we feel we already do, but it will keep a check on us that we are abiding by the highest standards in the industry. Anything less than that, in my opinion, is unacceptable.”
The accreditation ensures an audit of the agency every two years.
The CALEA accreditation will set forth more than 200 standards by which the 911 agency would have to abide. Some of those standards include a requirement of stress recognition training; expansion of call monitoring and noting and addressing any issues; mandatory health and wellness screenings like annual hearing tests; and a requirement to provide the public with more statistical information, including complaints.
The accreditation process consists of maintaining compliance with the professionally recognized communications standards. Greg Argo, the agency’s accreditation manager, would oversee, direct and manage the 218 standards daily, as well as conduct the accreditation process.
Coming from an accredited agency, Collett knew how much the accreditation would greatly improve operations at the 911 center.
“When I was with the sheriff’s office, we received the accreditation,” Collett said. “It instilled professionalism that had never before been seen in that sheriff’s office. Just the fact that you have these standards that you have to abide by … the sheriff was insistent on having it in order to guarantee that professionalism. I’m following suit. It worked well, and it’s something we need to do in 911. That’s part of the reason I came over here.”
Tony Wheeler, director of Cobb County 911, said the accreditation has greatly improved professionalism and limited liability within his agency.
“It gives you well-thought out directives and how you can meet those directives to reduce your liability, to increase proficiency in the center, to strengthen the agency’s accountability, improve relationships within the community,” he said. “If you use the process properly, it’s really caused us to become a much better agency—more accountable, caused our supervisors to be more accountable. It provides a lot of good oversight and management tools to manage your organization.”
Wheeler also said a mandatory 10-year budgeting plan also helps for better planning.
“It’s a really good tool for liability, budgeting, for community outreach,” he said. “I really believe in the system.”
Collett said the employees at Cherokee 911 are enthusiastic about the accreditation.
“The heart of this agency is the employees. They are excited about being held to a higher standard,” he said. “It’s what they’ve always wanted.”
